If you are looking for information on ice melting products, you have come to the right place since ice melt products is our specialty! We not only sell it by the ton, we use it for our sister company that handles snow and ice removal in the winter!
We are not going to cover all of our ice melting products here, but we wanted you to know what are some of your best options for different situations. Like in the rest of life, each situation has a “best tool for the job,” and ice melting products are no different.
Even if you are here just to get familiar with ice melting options, you will find reading this page worth your time, so let’s get started!
Best All-Around Ice Melt
If you are looking for the “jack-of-all trades” of ice melt, look no further than Safe N’ Sure Ice Melt. It will work well in most situations without breaking the bank. If you are going to buy only one to two 25 pound bags and you can reasonable expect to encounter temperatures below 15°F, Safe N’ Sure is your answer.
Safe N’ Sure is primarily rock-salt which keeps the price down, yet it mixes in some of the other ice melt chemicals to allow ice melting down to -25°. If you only wanted to buy one ice melt, this is the one to choose. You pay just a bit more than plain rock salt, but you will be ready to attack your ice even in some really cold temperatures.
Best Cold Weather Ice Melt
Calcium Chloride, like in Peladow Calcium Chloride Pellets, penetrates ice 3 times faster than other ice melts because it creates heat when interacting with the ice (what we call exothermic action). While Safe N’ Sure has a little calcium chloride in it, Peladow is 90% calcium chloride.
You will need less Peladow in the 0°F to -25°F temps than what you need of the Safe N’ Sure product in those frigid temperatures. That means Peladow is a must for people who need to remove ice in very cold temperatures because nothing comes close to straight up calcium chloride when it is time to knock out ice at really cold temperatures.
A bonus of calcium chloride is it likes to stay in place to keep ice and snow from freezing on payment during the next storm. Sometimes we will use it as a pre-treatment for one snow fall and find it is still working during the next snow fall. It also tends to create less dirty footprints when you use it instead of rock salt near entrances.
Best Low Corrosion Ice Melt
Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) is one of the least corrosive ice melts. Did you notice there is no “chloride” in the name of this product? CMA works to as low as -15°F and cuts through ice really well. CMA is a better choice if you have concrete or iron surfaces to protect because it is gentler than what we see with the chloride-based ice melts.
CMA is generally considered safe for pets and plants unless you overdo how much you spread. Just like ordinary fertilizer, if you use WAY too much you will burn your plants. Like calcium chloride, it also likes to stay in place and acts like a pre-treatment for your next storm.
Best Pet Friendly Ice Melt
Many pet owners love PESTELL Paw Thaw Ice Melt, which is made of a sugar based, non-toxic anti-freeze called propylene glycol. It cuts through the ice yet it is no more harmful than if your pet stepped in glycerin.
Best Cheap Ice Melt
If you live in snow country, you likely already know you can’t beat the price of rock salt! You can normally buy rock salt for a small fraction of the cost of the other deicers.
Yet, you get what you pay for. Rock salt only works to about +15°F, is corrosive to concrete and asphalt, and is harmful to plants and animals in larger quantities. You often have to use more rock salt than the other ice melt products, so in the end, you are saving less money than you may hope, but it is still extremely inexpensive.
Rock salt is definitely ideal where winters are milder and where you do not need to use a lot of salt during the winter. If you go through a lot of ice melt products, you likely will want rock salt for when it is warmer and to mix with other products when the temperatures dip below 15°F.
Are There More Ice Melt Products to Choose From?
You bet there are more ice melt products to choose from. Not only are there products with different chemical make-ups, there are some types where you can choose the shape like flake, pastille, or pellets. If you need help and you are in Maryland or D.C., or you are interested in buying pallets of material from us, be sure to give us a call and we can walk you through what the best option is for you.