Pre-Wetting & Deicing Services from a MD-Based Facility Services Contractor

With today’s snowstorm looming, now is the perfect time to prepare your government or commercial building for the worst. After all, a little preventative maintenance can go a long way. This is why anti-icing measures, like pre-wetting and de-icing, are so very important. The appropriate use of these anti-icing techniques results in:

1. A speedier return to bare pavement conditions
2. Fewer accidents
3. The reduction of property damage
4. A reduction in the manpower necessary to maintain safe conditions
5. A quicker return to normal building operations

Pre-Wetting and De-Icing from Crockett Facilities Services, a Facility Services Contractor

What is Deicing?

When snow and ice have accumulated on roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks, deicing is critical to help break the bond between snow and/or ice and the pavement surface. Deicers depress the freezing point of water and turn snow and ice into a liquid or a semi-liquid slush, allowing for easy removal.

The most common deicers used are sodium chloride, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride. Sodium chloride – rock salt or brine – is the most commonly used chemical based on its low cost and effectiveness.

What is Pre-Wetting?

Pre-wetting is a technique in which a solid deicer is coated with a liquid before it is spread. A 23% sodium chloride brine solution is the most commonly used. This is beneficial for several reasons, including:

1. Pre-wetting accelerates the brine making process, which is necessary for deicers to work.
2. Pre-wetting results in a 15-20% reduction in the amount of deicer used, because pre-wetting reduces bounce and scatter during spreading.
3. For these reasons, pre-wetting also results in cost savings and less environmental concerns.

What Application Method Should Be Used?

Weather and road surface temperatures determine if salt should be applied in solid, prewetted solid or liquid form, along with the type of precipitation – dry or wet snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain, etc.

1. Salt should be used when the road surface is wet and not cold enough to refreeze.
2. Prewetted solid application of deciers make sense when snow pack and ice are solid and cold temperatures cause refreezing.
3. Brine is effective for black ice conditions.

Crockett Facilities Services Ongoing Training Helps You Stay Safe

At Crockett Facilities Services Inc. (CFSI), we actively pursue ways to better serve our customers with ongoing training. One recent example is our participation in the University of New Hampshire’s Technology Transfer Center’s Salt Reduction for Parking Lots and Private Roads Training, a forward-thinking program designed to help facility services contractors reduce salt use in winter maintenance. Reducing salt use is of utmost importance to both environmental and infrastructural health.

CFSI was one of the first in the state of New Hampshire to complete this program.

Like us on Facebook; follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+ to learn more about Crockett Facilities Services and how our facilities managers can help you. Our MSCA GreenSTAR qualified technicians can optimize your mechanical equipment and lower your utility costs with our annual preventive heating and cooling maintenance agreements. Since 2000, our customers have trusted us to run their high profile government and commercial buildings and mission critical data centers, giving them peace of mind. Contact us to receive our eNewsletter and to receive a free building assessment by calling 301.262.2771 or emailing sales@crockett-facilities.com. We’re in this Building Together!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013 at . Both comments and pings are currently closed.