Did You Know?
For more information on ProPatch® please visit: http://www.innovativecompany.com/products/all-year/asphalt-repair-pro-patch |
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ProPatch® – helping make roads safer in Manitoba
Posted in Pothole Repair
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North America’s Most Popular Dust Control Agent
There are some 2.6 million kilometers of unpaved roads in North America! These roads are prone to dust resulting from the loss of fine particles caused by traffic, evaporation and wind. Dust from roads is a safety hazard and an environmental pollutant. Compromised road surfaces are costly to repair and can cause damage to vehicles. The most effective method for preventing the loss of fine particles is to treat unpaved road surfaces with magnesium or calcium chloride to maintain moisture. This dust control practice extends the life of the road while improving safety and air quality.
Agricultural areas in particular are the most susceptible to the effects of dust. Exposure to the elements, wear from vehicles and implements, as well as trampling from animals all contribute to this problem. Dust acts as a crop inhibitor by restricting photosynthesis and the absorption of pesticides. Dust affects the health and well being of workers and animals. The proper maintenance of riding areas for horses is critical to their performance and safety. With so much at stake operators need to find innovative surface solutions that they can feel confident in.
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Tips from the Pros for Horse Track Dust Management:
1. Dampen and grade track prior to application.
2. Apply 30% liquid magnesium chloride at 2 to 3 L per square meter; allow time to absorb.
3. Reapply periodically as required.
• Liquid magnesium chloride provides consistent track performance without the need for frequent watering
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Tips from the Pros for Cost Effective Arena Dust Control:
1. Grade indoor arena to no more than 2 degree slope.
2. Dampen and harrow surface prior to application.
3. Apply MAG at 1.5 to 2 kilograms per square meter; (1.5 to 2 tonnes per 1000 square meters).
4. Allow 24 hours for MAG to absorb moisture and dissolve completely.
• MAG eliminates the need for frequent watering
• An average horse arena will require 2 to 3 tonnes of MAG
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How do Dust Suppressants Work?
Water absorbing dust suppressants work by maintaining moisture in the surface. Many are hygroscopic meaning they have the ability to attract moisture from the air. The positive charges of the minerals attract the negative charges of water molecules. When properly applied they resist evaporation while binding fine dust and aggregate particles together to keep surfaces stable and dust free.
The stronger the attraction to the water molecules then the greater the ability to resist evaporation.
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Did You Know?
- MAG has the ability to attract and retain six times more water in surfaces.
- Magnesium is the central element in Chlorophyll which is essential to all life.
- Magnesium prevents evaporation of moisture up to 110° Celsius.
- MAG is safer to use around people, plants and pets! Unlike calcium chloride it does not generate heat!
For more information visit these websites:
Environment Canada: http://www.ec.gc.ca/nopp/roadsalt/reports/chlorideBP/en/p9.cfm
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/01-015.htm
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Posted in Dust Control
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Are all Salt Brines created equal?
VOAT embarked on an extensive trial to find the answer themselves! Their report attached here for your reference resulted in their ability to produce safer, better winter roads at lower costs, using less salt and less sand.
Why all the fuss?
The seemingly uncontrolled use of salt brine, which comes with high reported rates of corrosion on road surfaces, bridge decks and application equipment, has brought this winter application method in question.
What is salt brine? It is a low cost liquid sodium chloride with eutectic temperatures near -6 degrees Fahrenheit and operating temperature ranges acceptable only where truly cold climates fail to materialize. Salt brine, however, often dries-out and blows off the road surface, creating an environmental and health hazard. So, salt brine enhancers with their inherent tacky properties were introduced to help prevent evaporation and loss normally associated with lower quality salt brine products. They can also help to ensure greater residual performance significantly reducing application rates.
In order to ensure optimal performance, the use of a high quality salt brine enhancer (such as Magic Minus Zero®) will help bridge the performance gap. Magic-0 is added in a 30% concentration to simple salt brine to depress freeze points and help protect from the effects of corrosion. Magic-0 can also be used very effectively in full concentrate. But are all enhancers created equally?
There is a great deal of misinformation in our industry where manufacturers associate the sugars included in their enhancer equally with low temperature effectiveness and melting capacity. Enhancers alone are incapable of melting action. Indeed, it is the premium magnesium and calcium chlorides as well as simple salt brines that are responsible for all melting action.
Any sugars present are included to help make sure the hydrogen molecules in water have little chance of creating hard ice crystals and solid bonds with the paved surface by way of Direct Liquid Application or Anti-icing (DLA). Preventing these bonds from forming (Anti-icing) is what helps ensure more efficient plowing operations. In addition to the obvious, the need for performance in the field is vital to help protect our environment.
The greatest indicator of a product’s environmentally safety is its ability to break down in aquatic bodies. The “bio-oxygen demand” (BOD) of any organic material is the numeric measurement of the amount of the oxygen withdrawn and nitrogen created in the process of biodegrading the contaminant. Lower BOD numbers indicate lesser tolls taken on lakes, rivers and streams and hence are more favorable, supporting the locally natural fish, animal and plant life. Chemically, high phosphorus content is an indicator that a given material may be prone to exhibiting high BOD numbers and hence harmful. Magic-0 exhibits not only industry leading performance, but state-of-the-art environmental pedigree with ultra-LOW phosphorus levels.
All salt brine enhancers provide a necessary function helping to make driving surfaces safe. Your best bet is to investigate the science and all claims fully, demanding documentation and then to try them all to make the choice that’s right for you.
Posted in Ice Melt, Strategies
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Strategies to save you money…
As the Winter winds down, and all you road warriors reassess the costs associated with winter clean-up, let us share some exciting news from the Town of Woodstock’s Road Superintendent of Public Works, Dennis Porter, who tried something different this winter by treating their winter ice melting salt with Magic Minus Zero®
“We have had phenomenal success using Magic Minus Zero® in New Brunswick. The town treated 32 storms this season using the product. We have approximately 60 km of streets and approximately the same in sidewalks where we used a mixture of salt & Magic Minus Zero®. The end results were reduced plowing time because of the extended melt time early in a storm, quick clean up at the end of the storm with bare roads almost instantly, and a longer residual effect keeping roads bare and dry for extended periods.
We also reduced our sand consumption by 90% and to be honest, my goal was 50%. The only downfall is now we have a sand storage bin with approximately 1500 tons of sand we will never use! The 10% of sand we did use this year was for gravel parking areas and a couple of small gravel roads.
In summary, the town used approx. 1260 tons of salt and 40,000 litres of Magic Minus Zero® to successfully treat 60 km of streets. Bare roads were achieved almost instantly in all temperatures after the storms, clean up post storm was much easier and we anticipated reducing our street sweeping by at least 50% this year due to no sand build up in the gutters. Last year, we used 1300 tons of salt, over 1200 tons of sand and spent over $30,000 in spring clean up costs. The early numbers thus far for this year indicate we saved an estimated $42,000 in our winter snow removal budget – a number which I expect will double next spring.
It is not hard to be a believer in the product when you look at the numbers.”
Thank you Dennis for sharing this win with us. Please feel free to comment or share your winter success stories with us, too!
Posted in Ice Melt
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Over 60 million served…!
Ok, so it’s not quite as big as the 250 billion hamburgers that McDonalds has sold to date but I think that it is a number worth noting (besides, Big Macs have two patties!) That is the estimated number of ‘potholes’ that Innovative Surface Solutions has filled with its Cold Mix Asphalt repair since first launching the product in 1986. Since then we have produced over 300,000 Metric Tonnes of Cold Mix conveniently sold through a dozen stockpile locations and warehouses in Canada and the US. The material is available in bulk and 22.7 kg (50 lb) bags under the trade name ProPatch®.
This is the time of year when phones are ringing off the hook at Public Works offices from drivers frustrated with unsafe road conditions or damage to their vehicle. Many municipalities have now set up online sites for residents to report roads in need of urgent repair. Until Hot Mix plants get fired up in the spring the method of choice is Cold Mix. Here are some “Tips from the Pros” to refresh your teams as they try and keep up with the work at hand…
Tips from the Pros for Permanent Pothole Repair:
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Where do Potholes come from?
Over time the elements will cause asphalt to dry out resulting in loss of flexibility and leaving a fragile surface that is susceptible to damage. Throughout the winter melting snow and ice works into cracks which deteriorate through repeated freeze / thaw cycles. Asphalt breaks away leaving unsightly and dangerous holes in the road surface.
ProPatch® Premium, High Performance Cold Mix is designed to work in sub-zero temperatures making it ideal for use this time of year. The repaired area is immediately open to traffic and remains flexible in the hole which prevents lifting. Conventional Cold Mix dries hard and has a limited life expectancy.
ProPatch® is a permanent pothole repair ideal for utility cuts, joint repairs, outer edge repairs, surface patches, broken pavement and large cracks.
Did You Know?
For more information on ProPatch® please visit: http://www.innovativecompany.com/products/all-year/asphalt-repair-pro-patch |
Posted in Pothole Repair
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Corn Sugar for Roadways?
Our magnesium chloride blends are the subject of much interest in recent winter maintenance practices in Quebec.
La Presse’s on-line newsletter La Tribune recently published an article highlighting the progressive work the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec is doing using alternative de-icing products….
“The sky is the limit when it comes to experimenting with new deicing technologies in the Eastern Townships and Chaudiere-Appalaches regions of Sherbrooke. The MTQ is experimenting with two new types of aggregate blends, and one of them contains corn sugar. When these blends are applied to roadways, they stick to the road better than traditional blends and are more effective a lower temperatures,” explains Guillaume Paradis, spokesperson for the MTQ.
The first mixture, marketed under the name of Abra-Mag, is being used on a 25 kilometre span of Route 263 in the area of Mont Megantic. It consists of liquid magnesium chloride blended with corn sugar. The aggregates are treated with the blend so that each granule is completely coated.
Town of Norwich, VT, Gets Innovative
The Public Works Director for the Town, Andy Hogdon, is always on the look-out for ways to improve service levels and safety concerns of his constituents. Already using an environmentally friendlier dust control product during the summer months, Caliber M1000, he has outfitted one of his Holder machines for liquid ice melting application with the same product. And, here are the results:
“We had Tenco, New England mount the applicator to our Holder sidewalk machine. We have used it twice so far with fantastic results. As a matter of fact, the first time we used it, the neighboring towns treated their sidewalks as usual; we used this. Their sidewalks had a lot of salt carry-over on them and looked bad. Ours were jet black and bare. It looked like someone had just seal coated them, they were so black. I believe we have gotten the adjustment of the nozzles down to a science now. All is going well with it.”
Using Innovative Surface Solution’s enhanced ice melting liquids combined with their equipment programs is a cost effective solution to treating sidewalks while reducing the amount of material that gets tracked into businesses. Call 1.800.257.5808 in the US or 1.800.387.5777 in Canada to find out how we can help you find ways to enhance your winter or summer applications.
North American Winters in Europe: Focus on High Performance!
Recently, Jos Wieringa, a consultant at Industry Match in Groningen, Netherlands, wrote an interesting article about Winter Maintenance practices throughout Europe and how the use of high performance liquids in anti-icing applications were proving to be not only more effective in all weather conditions, but were providing users with considerable savings in both manpower and equipment costs while reducing their overall salt usages. Read more…Europe Winters Article
Using Smoke & Mirrors to create consumer confusion
Be wary of manufacturers who misrepresent products as something they are not
By Bob Carter
I recently traveled to the ISSA jan-san industry conference and trade show in Orlando, where ice melt products represented a sizable portion of the goods promoted on the trade show floor. What struck me as interesting, and a little off-putting, was the number of packaged dry-blended products being offered with very little disclosure as to the proportions of their constituent blends, and the levels of downright misinformation promoted as gospel. Continue reading
Official Website Launch
IT’S OFFICIAL! Our new website is up and running and we cannot wait to spread the news. Check out our press release.
Posted in Press Releases
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