Hey, my name's Sam and I'm from the Video Department here at Gregg Distributors.
Now I may not exactly be a real "scientist," but I have been known to be pretty salty.
That's why today I'm digging into ice melt products to find out what separates the best from the worst.
We're gonna crunch numbers, talk chemicals, and put these products to the test
in a good ol' fashioned Ice Melt Showdown!
Ice melt works by using a chemical, or a blend of chemicals, to depress the freezing point of water.
Both preventing, and destroying ice buildup at the molecular level.
Salt, or Sodium Chloride, is the most common component of ice melt
and it disrupts the formation of ice by bonding with the water molecules
and lowering the freezing point of water.
That's why many ice melt brands are actually 95 to 99% salt.
But by itself, it's really only effective down to about -10 or -15°C,
depending on who you ask.
There are tons of different additives that can go into an ice melt blend
like Potassium Chloride, Sodium Acetate, and others.
All with their own pros and cons.
Always be sure to check the safety data sheet of the product you're considering,
to see what they have in their blend before you make your choice.
More on that later.
The real hero of the ice melt world is Calcium Chloride.
Unlike salt, which needs to be in contact with moisture before it can begin de-icing,
Calcium Chloride absorbs moisture from the air, allowing it to start reacting much faster.
And unlike salt, which actually makes the ice colder,
Calcium Chloride reacts with water exothermically, which means it physically gets hotter
as it releases energy in the chemical reaction.
With the right combination, these salt and Calcium Chloride blends
can melt effectively at much colder temperatures,
while causing less damage to concrete and the environment than pure salt.
What I'm hoping to prove in our testing today
is just how much of a difference Calcium Chloride makes
by stacking up these competitors against Yukon Gold, a brand we carry right here at Gregg's!
So, let's put these ice melts to the test and see what shakes out.
First, we'll analyze their chemical structures.
By separating the salt crystals from the additives, we can weigh out our samples
and get an estimated percentage of how much of each is in the blend.
On Yukon Gold, for example, the blend is stated on the safety data sheet as 85 to 95% sodium chloride
and 5 to 15% calcium chloride.
Let's see how our sample compares.
It contains 2.8 grams of calcium chloride, or 14% of the blend,
and 17.2 grams or 86% salt.
For comparison, Polar Plus is another, more consumer-grade ice melt we carry from Keg River,
whose safety data sheet states it contains 90 to 95% sodium chloride, and 5 to 10% calcium chloride.
Let's see how the competitors stack up.
First up is Brand A, a premium brand, but their blend is proprietary.
Our sample had 20 grams of salt, which their safety data sheet states is soaked in liquid magnesium chloride.
Then, only 3 prills of another additive, either urea or magnesium chloride.
Next, we have Brand B, another premium brand.
33% of our sample is additives: grit, urea, and calcium chloride.
While salt made up just 67% of the sample's weight.
Brand C is a consumer ice melt, and its blend claims to have as much calcium chloride as Yukon Gold.
Our sample found only 1 gram, or 5% calcium chloride and 95% salt.
Finally, Brand D is another consumer brand, containing a proprietary blend.
Our sample measured 1.2 grams of additives,
a combination of magnesium chloride and calcium magnesium acetate,
and 94% sodium chloride.
To understand a bit more about what's going into these blends,
we're gonna have to get a little "Breaking Bad" up in here...
Some brands will advertise their blend as "corrosion inhibited"
by including a chemical called CMA, or Calcium Magnesium Acetate, in their mix.
That said, you only need about 1% of this chemical to claim that your blend inhibits corrosion.
In reality, one company who manufactures CMA
states that you need at least 20% CMA in the blend to reasonably claim that it has "corrosion inhibition."
So don't believe everything you see on the label, and always do your homework!
I always did, and look how I turned out!
Enough of the numbers, let's see this stuff in action.
We're going to take 10 identical trays filled with 50 milliliters of water
and freeze them at the same time.
Then, we're going to measure 5 grams of Yukon Gold,
and our four other competitor brands.
Now that our ice is ready,
we'll apply the ice melt, doing two tests of each.
Now, we can let them sit in the freezer for 30 minutes and work their magic,
taking the average result of the two tests, we will crown our winner.
So I'll see you in 30 minutes!
We're back!
Let's take a look at our samples and see how they did.
As you can see, Yukon Gold has the best results,
with A & B, the premium competitors, and C & D, the consumer level products
coming in significantly less effective.
Some of them barely melted any ice at all!
In conclusion, investing in a quality ice melt is going to save you time, money, and labor in the long run.
Having a stronger product means less material to handle, less volume for you to store,
and less ice melt to haul out to sites.
It also means having to do less applications since the stuff works fast, and works right the first time.
Trust me, I'm a Canadian. I know that nature is trying to kill us six months out of the year.
So why not make sure that slipping on ice is the last thing you need to worry about this winter?
Thanks for tuning in. I'm Sam, and we'll catch you on the next Gregg's Test Table.