Winter is coming!

It’s always a good idea to learn about what to do to prepare your home for the winter.

Here are some brilliant ideas from LifeHacker: How to properly De-Ice Your Home

Buy the right ice melting product for your driveway and walkways.

There are many other choices than plain rock salt depending on your concerns:

Eco-friendly, safe on concrete, gentle on landscaping, no residue, pet-friendly, non-corrosive, LEED compliant…etc.

• Know how much ice melt you need.

Check the instructions for the specific product you buy.

Know how much area you need to cover, and how many times you will need to cover it.

• Use the ice melt the right way

Pre-treat your walkway and driveways before it snows. Mix a little sand with ice melt can provide traction.

Remove snow before using ice melt.

• Prevent and clear ice dam on your roof

Ice dams prevent water runoff from flowing to the ground below, they can tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and lead to leaks when snow melts.

Buy roof rakes or DIY Snow ripper to clear the snow off rooftop after each snowstorm.

For more detailed information, please click here: https://goo.gly9mD9g

We have PLEEEEEEENTY of stock

As many of you already know we were hit by an extended period of snow and ice on the West Coast of Canada.

During this time many of our competitors failed to keep up with the demand, which resulted in lead times ranging in the weeks and sometimes months.

However, we were able to ensure all of our customers received their icemelter and were also able to secure many new customers as well. You can be rest assured that all our warehouses will remain well stocked throughout the winter, no matter the weather conditions.

New Product: Winter Warrior Enviro LEADer Icemelter™

Winter Warrior Enviro LEADer Icemelter ™ is the Superior ECO De-icer, designed specifically to be used around all Green Buildings / Properties, where there are environmental or corrosion concerns.

– Powerful to -21 C (-6 F)
– Contains CMA
– For use around Green Buildings
– Safest for the Environment
– Green Color
– Non-Corrosive
– Safe on Concrete
– Easy to Apply

Find out more at XYNYTH.COM.

New Product: Winter Warrior CMA Icemelter™

Winter Warrior CMA Icemelter ™ is made from 100% Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). CMA is made of dolomite lime and acetic acid, and is perfect where corrosion or environmental issues are of concern.

Winter Warrior CMA Icemelter ™ is:

– Biodegradable
– Non-Corrosive
– Safe on Concrete
– Performs to -12° C (10° F)
– Chloride / Nitrogen Free
– Easy to Apply
– Green Building Compliant

Find out more at XYNYTH.COM.

ICEMELTER FOR LEED BUILDINGS – CHANGES

As some of you may know, as of January 2015 LEED has redefined the requirements for LEED – Compliant Icemelters. According to the update, “Environmentally Preferred” Icemelters may not contain more than five percent of the following ingredients: Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Acetate, or Ammonia-based products.

XYNYTH Winter Warrior Family of products meets these stringent requirements: Winter Warrior Enviro LEADer Icemelter ™, Winter Warrior Runway Control Icemelter® and Winter Warrior CMA Icemelter ™.

Winter Warrior Enviro LEADer Icemelter ™ is the Superior ECO De-icer, designed specifically to be used around all Green Buildings and properties, where there are environmental or corrosion concerns. It is safe on concrete and works powerfully down to -21°C (-6 °F).

Winter Warrior Runway Control Icemelter® is comprised of Sodium Acetate and Sodium Formate, and thus contains none of the above mentioned ingredients. It is completely biodegradable, non-corrosive and also is Federally Approved for Used on Airport Runways, Taxiways & Aprons.

Another alternative that Green Building owners could turn to is Winter Warrior CMA Icemelter ™, which is made from 100% Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). CMA is made of dolomite lime and acetic acid, and is perfect where corrosion or environmental issues are of concern. It is easy to apply, and biodegradable. It performs down to temperature as low as -12° C (10° F).

Find out more at https://www.xynyth.com/product.html

CAN I MAKE LIQUID DE-ICER???

A question often asked of us is they can liquefy our Winter Warrior Runway Control® De-icer and the answer is YES you can!  It is very easy.

You simply use a mixer of 25% product to 75% water and you will have a product that works down to -19°C. This is great for spraying on surfaces, and yet maintains  all the features and benefits of a solid icemelter.  Winter Warrior Runway Control^® is totally biodegradable, environmentally friendly and completely non-corrosive.  It is the perfect product to spread anywhere you have metal and ice and need to melt the ice.  Great for inside large walk-in or drive-in freezers as well.

Go to www.xynyth.com for more info on our products.

Costly Calcium Conundrum

Word has started to hit the street that Calcium Chloride will be in short supply this coming season. Major manufacturers like Dow and Occidental have already informed their customers that Calcium Chloride will be on allocation. This means that not all orders will be fulfilled. Finding an affordable supply of Calcium Chloride will be a challenge this fall and winter. Calcium Chloride (CaCl) is a very common ice melter product that is known for its fast melting power down to very low temperatures. It is also will known for having some major drawbacks including a short shelf life, requiring more applications than other ice melters, leaving an oily residue behind and being dangerous to people, pets, & the environment. Many customers will be looking for quality alternatives that effectively melt ice that are not sodium based.   XYNYTH Manufacturing has two solutions for customers who find themselves in this conundrum. Mountain Organic Natural™ Icemelter and GroundWorks Natural™ Icemelter are perfect alternatives to Calcium Chloride. Not only are they much safer and cleaner, the required usage is only half that of Calcium for the same results. The restrictions on supply will drive up the price causing many to look at cheaper options of Calcium. For those that are more focused on the lower melting temperature and fast action of Calcium over the environmental concerns. This is perfect timing to try our new Arctic Orange™ Icemelter product. The new formulation is designed to work fast and hot like Calcium but will last long longer then pure Calcium Chloride.

Rock Salt Damage to Trees & Plants

  While Road salt is said to be essential to keep our roads safe for traveling during our winter season, their extensive use can become very harmful to trees and plants.  Environment Canada  completed a five year study of the effects of road salt on the environment. One of the cheapest and most commonly used for de-icing roads and pavements is Rock salt, consisting of 98.5% of sodium chloride (NaCl).  The study concluded that rock salt is toxic to the environment, particularly in large concentrations.  Studies show that an average of 1.86 trees per km  of highway in Canada are affected by the toxic chemicals contained in Rock Salt and need to be replaced each year.

The effects of the toxic chemicals can easily be seen on plants and trees exposed to rock salt mists from or near the busy roads or highways (also known as salt spray).  Salt spray can also happen when snow is plowed off of streets and sidewalks and onto trees and shrubs.  On Evergreen trees, the needles show ‘tip-burn’,  as the needles turn yellow, then bronze and subsequently become brown and begin to drop prematurely. As the needles die, the photosynthetic capacity of the tree is curtailed.  Over the years the amount of new growth is reduced, causing the tree to weaken, dieback and perhaps die.  On deciduous trees the salt spray affects the opening of buds and twigs.

When Rock Salt in the soil dissolves, it separates in to Sodium and Chloride Ions.  Chloride Ions are absorbed by the roots and later can be transported to actively growing leafs causing the leaf to scorch, curl and even die.   Sodium Ions are taken through the same chemical route as the necessary tree nutrients, later restricting the uptake of magnesium and potassium, the two essential chemicals for trees and plants.  The roots there for can’t take in water through osmosis and begin to die of thirst.

 With growing awareness on environmental concerns, XYNYTH Manufacturing Corp. continues to strive in providing customers with products that are environmentally friendly.  Having two preferred environmentally friendly products, with potassium being their major component, Mountain Organic Natural™ Icemelter & GroundWorks Natural™ Icemelter benefit the trees and plants as potassium is a major nutrient for them.  While these products are very powerful and effective they are also safe around vegetation, children and pets.  One way to minimize salt injury to our trees and plants is to start thinking green and making better healthier choices with the type of de-icing products we use.

Beet This!

With the declining supply of road salt and the higher prices, many communities are switching to a more cost efficient, and yet environmentally friendly solution.
Beat juice, apparently, is a very Eco-friendly solution to deicing the dangerous winter road conditions, not to mention cost efficient as well. Although this concept isn’t new, more and more communities are adapting to this method. Road salts, originally thought to be cheap, come with many consequences such as the damage done to wildlife including poison to fish, damage to aquatic wildlife, and harmful to sensitive vegetation. Other detriments include damage to concrete and metals. On the other hand, beet juice can provide an effective performance to temperatures dropping as low as -25ºC or approximately -13ºF.

1. Adding beet juice to salt brine — even at a 20% concentration — does not increase the salt brine’s ice-melting properties or decrease the temperature at which it is effective.
2. Beet juice reduces the friction of a salt brine solution by 10% – 20%. This translates to slicker roads and more dangerous driving conditions.
3. 25% beet juice concentration is required to lower salt brine’s corrosion score to meet PNS specifications. However, it will also reduce the brine’s ice melting properties. So when beet juice is used as a corrosion inhibitor, application rates should be increased in direct proportion to the amount of beet juice added. Higher concentrations of beet juice also mean higher costs.

It is important to note that beet juice is not a substitute for road salt, but serve as a complimentary resource. It can reduce the salt usage from 85kg per lane km to just 79 kg per lane km, which can effectively save about $2 per lane km. But even beet juice isn’t completely innocuous. Adding it to water can have an impact says  “Organic matter—anything from leaves to amino acids—anything carbon based that breaks down, needs to consume oxygen,” Oxygen-depleted water can also come at an environmental cost, killing animal and plant life. In one of the most extreme cases of oxygen depletion, known as hypoxia, more than 22,000 square km in the Gulf of Mexico lost much of its commercial fishing industry. The beets, which have a high concentration of sucrose, are grown commercially as a sweetener. However, the sugar must be removed for the juice to be sold as a de-icing agent. “If sugared, you are going to pull animals to the roadway,” “If it is sugared and you store it, it will ferment like beer.”

As the environment is of such importance to many cities, environmental icemelters.  Mountain Organic Natural™ Icemelter is a fertilizer based icemelter that is effective to -23ºC or approximate 9ºF.  It is safe on the vegetation, landscaping, children, pets and the water systems. Also Winter Warrior Runway Control™  is totally Chloride and Urea free which means that it will not damage concrete or metal. As opposed to Beet Juice that you need to mix with salt brine, Mountain Organic Natural™ Icemelter & Winter Warrior Runway Control™  do not require to be mixed with any other product allowing Cities to receive and begin using  the product right away.

Strategies for Dealing with Roof Ice

No, that is not the sound of reindeer on your roof making an extra stop on their way back to the North Pole.  That creaking sound may be sign your roof has too much weight from snow and ice on it.  We are often asked by customers if our products are safe to use on their roof.  The answer is yes.  Products like Mountain Organic Natural™ Icemelter & GroundWorks Natural™ Icemelter  are both safe to use on most roofs.  Some key points to keep in mind when deciding which product to use are to consider where the melted run off will going.  If the run off will be going into plants & vegetation, concrete, or an area where children or pets are, you will want to use a safe, proven, and effective product such as our GroundWorks Natural™ Icemelter  If sensitive metal is at risk of corrosion, then using a chloride free product like Winter Warrior Runway Control® is an ideal product to use.  For more info on how to apply the product and some important tips, please see this article – ICE DAMS & ROOFS – in the XYNYTH Ice Melt Resource Center.