why not use the water softner salt

[ih82plow]

I use to be able to purchase rock salt in 60lbs bag.Now all I can find is water softner salt. the old stuff said ice melt. Now all I see is softner salt.Is there a differenc? Right now I am sitting on a skid of calcium that will last a while but with no snow or ice in the forcast I figured I would get another skid of material while its available.

But the way I am using a western model 500

[Snowboy]

I sell water softner salt at work and its like 5 times the size of rock salt. Looks like that white beauty stone that people put in there gardens or around trees or a better way to describe it is what they call 2/4 clear gravel.

If your spreader throws that out the back and it hits a car it will make a nice lil ding in the car body.

Maybe you have diffrent type or water salt out there. The stuff here is made by Sifto Salt. Water salt will cost more too dont it?

[Highpoint]

We use the heck out of Culligan Water Softner salt. It is great stuff. Each piece is uniform and darn near the size of most rock salt. It's white and easier to see on the ground. The clients take notice. Only draw back is it comes in paper bags lined with a thin layer of plastic. Sucks to have to keep it covered but it works. We buy it when on sale. Usually every 3 months, we can buy 3 pallets and get a 4th free. Stores well inside. :)

[ih82plow]

Mortons is what is sold locally.are there different properties to water softner salt and ice salt (whitch I cant find except in small 10lbs bag)

[John DiMartino]

ive used it in a pinch,it works fine

[ih82plow]

Originally posted by John DiMartino
ive used it in a pinch,it works fine

You use the term in a picth as if there is a better solution?

lately I have been using the calcium and beside the exsence it actually works like magic unless i have just been getting it down at the correct time.Whats the best product

[Pelican]

Water softener salt is more refined and hence more expensive than bagged rock salt. Sodium Chloride is Sodium Chloride, it will all melt snow just the same. I've seen the finer crystals mentioned here, it does resemble rock salt, but I would question why the need for the extra expense?

I even used the salt tablets on my driveway one year when no rock salt could be found, prior to my having bulk available. It didn't work quite as well as the crystals, but it got the job done.

[Chuck Smith]

Salt that is specifically manufactured for water softeners is meant to dissolve slowly, which is why it does not work as well.

~Chuck

[JCurtis]

If you happen to buy your icemelt by the bag instead of bulk and you happen to be low on supply, the water softener will work. I have used it on occassion. It does dissolve at a slower rate but hey if you need to apply salt and thats all that is available then by all means use it.

The ramifications of NOT applying any salt is something I just don't want to chance.

as the old saying goes.... Any Port in a Storm !!!

[CPSS]

The difference is the pellets are the large chunks, regular cheap water softener salt is just a refined rock salt with the "dirt" removed. There is no special composition to make is disolve slower. The pellets will disolve slower just because of their size.

For two years I had a contract with a local AGWAY store, I plowed them and they paid me in salt. Sometimes it was Halite, sometimes Agway Rock Salt, sometimes water softener salt. The pellets worked the worse. Every thing else worked just fine.

[Lawngodfather]

I've gotten the same stuff as Highpoint. in a pinch, but don't let it get wet or you're spreading salt with paper in it.

My supplier got us some a few seasons ago, dirt cheap too, they almost couldn't give it away for free.....

I took the whole semi load for $10 a pallet.

[Chuck Smith]

The "specicifically manufactured" salt I was talking about, looks like "jordan almond" candies. Oval shaped pellets, about 2" long, and pure white like table salt. It comes in bags.

At work, we use bags for our small water softeners. It is halite crystals. We soften boiler water, not drinking water, so dirt is not a problem.

Last week I received 25 tons of bulk in one of our silos for our big softeners. That came from the port in Newark, right out of the same Cargill pile that they use on roads. Again, it was crystals. In fact, some chunks (not clumps) were 2" in diameter, and clogged the hose they use to blow the salt into the silo.

~Chuck

[Plower737]

I've been using solar salt from Agway for 3yrs now and have been pretty happy with it. I buy pallets at a time. 50 -50lbs bags at $3.90 per bag is pretty cheap to me. $195 per pallet. I have the old buyers spreader. Its not as small as Hailte or as big as the big softener pellets. Just right for my needs.

[Elite1]

I sent a guy to the store and told him to buy a bag of salt, cold fall day and I felt like washing stuff.

I mistakenly bought softner salt. I tried it. It didn't do much. I might as well have used a lighter to melt the ice