If you are staring at your icy driveway and sidewalk in front of your house you probably turn to your bag of rock salt and start looking for your boots. Then you realize you’re out of rock salt! How are you going to make things safe out there? Yes, you could call the plow guy. He would probably charge you $150 dollars to salt the driveway or whatever the price is these days. Then you remember that you have some bags of pool salt in the basement from your salt water pool. Why not just use that, will pool salt melt ice?
Will Pool Salt Melt Ice?
Well, other than the pool salt costing more than your typical rock salt, you might have just found the best temporary solution to ice melt in your circumstance. Yes, it’s true that pool salt will melt ice. A 40 lb bag of Morton pool salt or Aqua Salt will cost a bit less or a bit more than snow melt salt. However, you’ll find it works in a similar fashion. The only negative to using pool salt on your driveway or walkway, is the lack of a residual.
Difference Between Pool Salt vs. Rock Salt
When using snow melt rock salt on a walkway for example, after the snow melts and evaporates, there is rock salt left on the walkway. This acts as a preventative measure against any new snowfall, and will erode and dissolve into the melting snow as more snow shows up.
Pool salt on the other hand is not designed to slowly dissolve. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Pool salt is formulated to dissolve quickly. It’s also designed to leave the least amount of residual sitting on the bottom of the pool as possible. This means, the salt will dissolve into the melted snow. It may even flow off the driveway or walkway completely, leaving you without a residual.
However, in a pinch, using pool salt is a great alternative. It will keep things safe out there and eliminate the snow. The goal with salt is to lower the freezing temperature of water by adding salt. For example, water with 10% salt content freezes at 20 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 32 degrees. This is the value of salt, and why salt is less effective in extremely cold temperatures.
Will Pool Salt Melt Ice Summary
By now you’ll understand the answer to will pool salt melt ice is absolutely yes. Get out there and take care of that dangerous driveway. You can order some more rock salt for the next snow storm. However, your pool salt will get the job done now.