Ice Removal - Steep Asphalt Road - Suggestions?

[PBinWA]

We live in a neighborhood with long paved (asphalt) private road. We have one hill that is very steep and in the shade. Every winter it ices up and requires that we chain up for the ride up and down (1 mile) to the county road.

The snow isn't a big issue - it actually makes getting up and down the hill a little less scary.

I'm looking for wisdom on the following:

Best techniques for scraping ice from the road.

Calculation for how much salt and/or gravel to throw down on a 1/2 mile stretch of road.

I've got a small 26hp Tractor with a FEL , BB, and chains but don't have the time to be out scraping the road every time it snows. I just want to attack it once everything has stopped falling which means I need to scrape the hard packed snow/ice with out damaging the road.

Suggestions?

 

[djradz]

Even the Road Commission can't seem to get the ice scraped off the roads around here, but I do have a few suggestions. Turn your blade to the maximum angle you are comfortable with and which doesn't result in pushing the tractor too much to one side. Use a HEAVY blade, or one with added weight. Keep the blade sharp - yes sharp, sort of like you'd keep your razor sharp. ... and then use that sharp edge by shortening your top 3-pt link so that that sharp front edge of the blade is the only contact. To maintain this edge, you may need to either grind the back edge of the blade occassionally, or in the summer, what I have done is, greatly lenghten the top link such that the blade is riding on it's back edge, and then drag (or better yet, go backwards) on that same paved road and hone that edge.

I wouldn't worry, whether plowing snow or grinding that back edge, about tearing up the road. The weight you're applying is so spread out that you won't be doing anything to the road. Only if you somehow get the blade to where it is gouging with one corner or the other, can you really do any damage. I've graded my 1/8 of a mile road for almost 15 years now and never done any visable damage. You will need to watch a little when you're plowing with the blade angled to make sure the front corner is not a lot lower than the rear, because that can scrape the road or result in some gouging. What you'll find is that although the blade may be level side-to-side when its turned square, when you turn it to something like a 45, since the tractor end of the blade frame is lower (because you've shortend the top link) then the front corner of the blade will be lower than the rear corner. A little is OK, and helps with the scraping and ice removal, but as I said, too much will result in a little gouging. Good Luck!

 

[PBinWA]

Thanks for the tips.

Sounds like I need to get a rear grader/blade. I'll head to the farm store and see what they have.

Thanks again,

PB

 

[heehaw]

after apparently messin up some concrete, i quit using salt to melt the ice, i have been using ammonia nitrate, or some other form of fertilizer: it seems to work fine, and no salt kill on the surroundings and no more concrete damage
heehaw

 

[djradz]

Problem with any of this is, salt, fertilizer, etc, if you get a significant snowfall on top of it and go to grade it, even days later, you will inevitably get it on some parts of the tractor and all over the blade, which in the case of salt and fertilizer, both are very corrosive. I've read about some coatings that require a one time (per season I think application) that might be better suited. On my drive, I very rarely and only very sparingly use salt. I more commonly use wood ashes, but you've got such a longer drive that it's probably impractical.

 

[bczoom]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Problem with any of this is, salt, fertilizer, etc, if you get a significant snowfall on top of it and go to grade it, even days later, you will inevitably get it on some parts of the tractor and all over the blade, which in the case of salt and fertilizer, both are very corrosive. )</font>

I use Urea (46-0-0) for melting snow. Is that corrosive?

 

[ByronBob]

What about Calcium chloride? The synthetic salts are not corrosive but do cost a little more.

 

[PBinWA]

Salt is sooo cheap though! All the other stuff is pretty expensive. In a pinch I used 16-16-16 Fertilizer last year but that took a while to wash the non-useful stuff off.

Anyone know is salt is bad for asphalt?

We get so much rain here that I doubt the salt would be around for long.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[JimR]

Salt destoys concrete. it is fine to use on asphalt. I've been using salt since 1976 on my uphill driveway. A rear blade is your best bet to remove the hardpack snow. Salt will take care of the ice.

 

[Currmudgeon]

Salt is OK for asphalt, but less good for concrete. Calcium chloride is far more corrosive than salt, but works at a colder temperature.

Normal salt (NaCl) is endothermoc. It sucks heat out of the environment when it works. It's best around the freezing point, and peters out at around 10F.

Calcium Chloride is exothermic. It gives off heat, and is useful down to about zero. Much colder than that, not much works, but the ice gets less slippery, too.

There are other chemicals that can be used, and which are less corrosive, and maybe more environmentally friendly. These include Urea, Calcium Magnesium Acetate, and various Glycols. They are all more expensive, sometimes dramatically so.

The biggest problem with salts on concrete is not the concrete, but any reinforcing steel. The salt penetrates the concrete and induces rusting in the steel. Steel expands as it rusts, and the expansion pops off chunks of concrete.

The fact that the various road authorities fight ice by salting rather then by scraping is a good pointer to what works. If scraping was easier or cheaper, especially cheaper, they'd be scraping rather than salting.