Hot-water salting: how salt wetted with hot water works

Falköping calls the method High Energy Salting, and the spreaders for it are called C-7 HES and C-9 HES.

Why the water is heated

Salt only works once it has dissolved in water. Dry salt has to draw moisture from the road surface before it starts to melt ice and snow, and some of it can blow or be thrown off the road before that happens. If the salt is wetted as it is spread, it has already started to dissolve when the grains hit the road surface.

Hot water also adds energy to the salt, hence the name. Falköping refers to the report “Salt befuktet med varmt vann” from Statens vegvesen (the Norwegian Public Roads Administration) for more information about the method.

C-7 HES in figures

C-7 HES is a truck-mounted disc spreader. The figures are Falköping's own:

• 7.0 m³ for sand and salt, and a 2.1 m³ liquid tank
• Unladen weight 2 200 kg
• Heating output 80 kW, water temperature 95 °C and heating time 9 minutes
• Spreading width 2–8 m
• One spreading disc

Larger model and shorter truck beds

C-9 HES has 9.0 m³ and 2.7 m³, weighs 2 300 kg and has the same heating output of 80 kW. HES is also supplied for shorter truck bed lengths.

Discharge is by twin feed augers that can be run together or separately, and that can be reversed if something gets stuck.

Drive and mounting

As standard, the spreader is driven by the truck's hydraulics. Engine drive can be supplied as an option, and the spreader can always be driven by the truck hydraulics even when engine drive is fitted. A load carrier frame allows mounting without modifying the spreader.

Optional equipment includes remote control of the spreading pattern, a mixer for salt slurry, side deflectors and a hydraulic disc lift. The disc lift is controlled from the control panel and prevents damage to the disc.

Dosing by road surface temperature

To bring salt consumption down, the dosing has to follow the conditions. HES can be equipped with IR automation that doses salt and liquid according to the road surface temperature. Falköping specifies four dosing curves for different road conditions, and the display shows both road and air temperature.

The control systems give infinitely variable, synchronised adjustment of width and amount, and with data collection and GPS, each treatment is documented: who, what, where, when and under what conditions.

Salt or fixed sand

Falköping uses the same hot water on sand in the C-7 LTFV fixed sand spreader. The volumes are the same, 7.0 m³ and 2.1 m³, but LTFV has 300 kW heating output and weighs 3 200 kg.

Whereas HES is meant to make the salt work faster, LTFV is meant to make the sand freeze onto the road surface and provide friction over a long period. LTFV can also spread salt, so the choice comes down to what the main job will be.

When you contact us

Have this ready before we talk about HES:

• The truck: bed length, and what the truck's hydraulics deliver
• Whether you want engine drive instead of truck hydraulics
• How long the routes are, and where you will fill up with water
• Whether treatments need to be documented with GPS and data collection
• Whether you also want to make salt slurry with a mixer