| Winter will be here soon enough indeed. Once, Winter | | | | with it. Magnesium Chloride 5 degrees to negative |
| is in full swing there are serious issues for school | | | | twenty-Does not hurt concrete, 40% less chloride into |
| buses and school bus safety. The key is preventative | | | | environment, comes in either solid or liquid, liquid |
| maintenance. Many buses blow exhaust underneath | | | | preferred, Potassium Chloride- 25 degrees to 12 |
| either one or both back tires to keep warm and melt | | | | degrees-Similar to urea. Good deicer and fertilizer. |
| ice and snow after they stop to get traction. School | | | | Smells terrible later. Sand-good traction; but major |
| Buses Must Be Prepared For Winter Driving otherwise | | | | mess later. Environmentally okay, after all it is only |
| buses get stuck in route or accidents can occur. Many | | | | sand, sand blasts trucks and screws up paint. Sodium |
| times there is no sense in using buses on some days | | | | Chloride-15 to negative six degrees-deices, often |
| meaning if no one can get there, why have school that | | | | mixed with sand and salt applications. They call it road |
| day at all; All the children Left Behind?School districts | | | | salt or you have heard the term rock salt. Urea is used |
| are taking the threat of snow and ice seriously during | | | | in -25 degrees to 11 degrees- Looks like small white |
| winter, preparing the buses for winter driving conditions | | | | pellets, used usually as a mixture to save costs with |
| in Oregon. of the most important things you can do of | | | | other de-icers. Note the freezing temperature is often |
| course is to wash these buses and to do it correctly. | | | | a factor of altitude and wind chill. What is the trucking |
| Many times a good pressure washing company can | | | | Industry doing about this problem?Manufacturers such |
| assist in routine maintenance cleaning of frames to | | | | as freightliner is using robots to put on special adhesive |
| make sure the road salt and such get off the buses | | | | to prevent corrosion between parts. More stainless |
| which can cause excessive wear to things like brakes. | | | | steels are being used and other alloys with nickel |
| Magnesium Chloride is a huge issue on winter roads: | | | | content. New primers and coatings are being used |
| This years Winter will cost government agencies 2 | | | | available from PPG as well as new glass and ceramic |
| Billion in plowing and spreading salt and chemicals on | | | | coatings such as the NASA formula used and sold by |
| roads for safety.It will cost the environmental clean-up | | | | Adsil.Resins and sealers are used by some to seal |
| and corrosion damage to the trucking Industry 5 million. | | | | components and body parts. Anti-static discharge |
| Some of that will be spent in Truck detailing centers in | | | | points are put in strategic parts on trucks. PeterBuilts all |
| places like Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Green Bay, | | | | come with underbody splash shields now. Mack has |
| Cleveland, New York and Boston. What do they put | | | | galvanized cabs and undercoating on fuel tanks. |
| on the roads? Under 25 degrees Fahrenheit, they use | | | | Transport Topics in another related article in 2004 |
| Calcium Chloride, it generates heat when it hits | | | | quoted fleet managers as saying increased washing |
| moisture and melts ice and snow, giving off a little | | | | frequency was by for the best preventative |
| advection fog. Calcium Magnesium Acetate 20 | | | | maintenance and was the main advise of fleet owners |
| degrees-Liquid deicer, limestone and acetic, best for | | | | and managers to prevent corrosion. Many times part |
| bridges and other areas to reduce corrosion to | | | | of the strategy of a deicer application is to allow the |
| prevent loss of structural integrity.Calcium Magnesium | | | | trucks to spread it around and mix it correctly. So the |
| Propionate-Powder form made from farm products, | | | | application means just dumping it on the ground and |
| cheap and only $300 per ton. Still undergoing tests due | | | | letting the trucks mix it. And the buses and trucks are |
| to environmental problems, which may be associated | | | | not alone in this problem. Think on it. |