[billy]

I have a 10 foot stainless steel western vbox. The bulk salt that I use lately has been freezing in the box, and does not go down it bridges. Is there any liquid i can use to prevent from freezing? Temps were 5 above with 30 mph winds. Any suggestions to prevent salt from freezing and bridging?

 

[Dfrenzy]

Are you using a vibrator?

 

[snowjoker]

If you keep the salt in the spreader while your plowing, the moisture and fines in it will cause it to pack right in. Best bet is to load it up and go spread it right out, and not leave the salt in there for any period of time. You could treat your salt with some liquid enhancers, but you could still see the same problem..

 

[Mark Oomkes]

Yep, just about any of them properly applied and mixed will keep it from freezing. Not guaranteed but close.

This is why I prefer treated salt vs a pre-wet system. Pre-wets don't do squat for me while I have a load of salt in the truck that is freezing up on me. Treated salt doesn't freeze very often. I've had it happen once, and while the supplier said the salt was wet, I blame it more on the way it was 'mixed'. And I use that term loosely.

 

[Prosno]

I plow with an empty hopper period and then load up to salt all my accounts in the am. It beats pounding the crap out of my sander and swearing at 4 am. And that is treated salt also.

 

[todddude]

You might try a bridge, inverted V down the center of the box. I lowered mine as much as I could & it worked great to stop bridging. Treated salt, dry salt will work better @ not setting up but I had a contractor leave his treated salt in over night & it set up. Just keep it covered, don't put it in over night, and be sure to empty each time. If it's not too much of a time problem or logistical issue the previous posters idea of loading up after plowing is great. But keeping it dry as possible is the key.

 

[Ford fan]

My salting is done right after plowing or even while my guys are finishing up plowing. I just got a load this morning and it's freakin' cold (4 degrees F with nasty 20-30mph winds) and it was freezing up within an hour. I think the trick is using it as fast as you get it loaded.

 

[Duncan90si]

If you're in a jam with frozen salt in the hopper, dump a few gallons of good windshield washer fluid on the salt. I wouldn't use it as a prevenative solution, but it can thaw your salt in emergencies. If you keep having problems use the advice as posted above, spread quickly and use treated salt.

 

[Ford fan]

If you're in a jam with frozen salt in the hopper, dump a few gallons of good windshield washer fluid on the salt. I wouldn't use it as a prevenative solution, but it can thaw your salt in emergencies. If you keep having problems use the advice as posted above, spread quickly and use treated salt.

I've tried washer fluid straight and it was pretty much a waste of 3.59,lol. I dumped 3 gallons over a pile of salt that wasn't any bigger than 4ftx3ft and 2ft deep and it didnt do a thing. I ended up having to just break it apart and bust up the chunks. Thats why I spread it all and never leave it in a hopper.

 

[John DiMartino]

I loaded last night at 8pm,spread some,and got up this morning at 4am, to spread more,it was around 5 degrees this morning,the treated salt didnt freeze overnight,came right out of the V pro this morning.I havent had any freezing issues at all,as long as i cover the spreader.I like to always have some salt in the truck,for 2 reasons, If i need a little, I have it,no need to go back to the shop ,and my spreader is only 400 lbs,I like to have at least 1000 lbs in the bed at all times to counteract the 1000 lb blizzard plow,and for traction.IMO,you got to get treated salt if you want to be able to leave it in the hopper.

 

[T-Zab]

I think I read some where about taking 20#'s of Cal pellets and 2 gallons of water. Mix it till it dissolves. Dump that over the top and start spreading.

My v-box froze up nicely yesterday am.
Was foolish enough to think liquid Magic -0 would loosen it up. Dumped 8 gallons over the top of the whole load and watched it run out the back. :wink
Pulled the grate and pretended I was working in a salt mine :drool
This all happened after 10 hours of loading trucks and chipping snow out of the back after each load. Did I mention th etrucks got stuck everry other load they had to drop ? Oh ya did I mention we had to dump the loads on higher ground then go in and push it all back with the skid loader ? :rolling

 

[Earthscapes]

I'm like John, when theres snow in the forecast I always keep salt in my Dogg. The present load has been in since Friday 34 degrees. We never got the ice storm on Sat.(38 degrees) only rain, so I didn't have to salt. I got 2 calls this morning and I was worried with temps being 3 degrees out, that I may have some crusting, but it all came out nicely. I have my pile nicely tarped and the dogg has it's own tarp.

 

[billy]

thanks guys for your responses. I think the bulk salt I've been receiving is not treated, this has never hapened to me before until this year.

 

[todddude]

I will leave salt in our 2 yd V box overnight, but I park it in a garage. It is not heated but it doesnt get as cold as out doors. I had a load of treated salt set up last year on a -6* day & spent 3 hrs thawing it out, shovel scoop at a time & chipping out. From then on it was load as needed & park it in the garage if any is left.

In the freezing salt thread there was alot of info also. I have tried putting more liquid on but it just made it harder and set up deeper and ran out of the bottom too. I got some great info on the moisture content being the biggest factor to ir setting up. In addition the calcium absorbs moisture over time so that compounds the problem when it gets real cold. I have had people say that it should not set up because calcium works to below zero, but its not the way it works on salt. It works well on a surface as a deicer, not as a treatment on salt for anti-caking below zero. Check out that other thread, there was a ton of great feed back and spirited discussion.

 

[billy]

thanks toddude I'll check, it out

 

[CGSI]

I leave treated salt in my hopper for days at 0* with no issues. As soon as the hopper is loaded it is covered. So long as you keep the treatment on the salt and do not allow it to get washed off it should be fine.

 

[CPSS]

We found that we can leave salt in our spreader if it's kept inside. We are lucky to have a large enough heated building to park this in. We usually keep it filled and ready to go.

 

[happy]

frozen salt

I too have been having this problem too. We use a salt dogg 2.0 yard model. A trick I have used when I have been by myself and nobody to ride around in the back chipping away as I spread is to go to a close carwash and spray down with water(jet through to the screw auger) and then drive fast back to the site to spread. It works real well, although my site was only 5-10 minutes from the carwash. We need heated hoppers. period

 

[MDsnowPRO]

you guys are gonna laugh but someone told me this works. He said he went to walmart and bought a cheap electric blanket and spread it over his load, then put the tarp back on. Clams it works like a charm.

 

[CPSS]

And a really long extention cord! Just kidding, I think anything to add a little heat to the salt would help.