B
Bogtrotter
Guest
Salt works best in my experience.
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A
andreapalladio
Guest
But terrible for the garden, dogs, shoes and the lake.
A
andomano52
Guest
Salt may work best, but sand won't corrode your car or slowly turn the lake saline. although noone likes sand all up in their homes
B
building babel
Guest
For the first time since I had it built in 1993, I recently sprinkled a small amount of salt on the paved front steps and landing outside my front door - to see what effect it would have. The corrosive salt melted the ice for sure, and I swept it away; but it also scoured the surface clean of years of grimy "patina" - which came as a nice surprise.
B
Bogtrotter
Guest
Salt saves lives - "When salt is used properly, it does not present environmental harm. And, besides the socio-economic benefits of mobility and safety, treating winter roadways with salt has environmental benefits of reducing air pollution by avoiding congestion and by eliminating use of sand and other abrasives which contribute to airborne particulate pollution and runoff into roadside streams."
-The Salt Institue
-The Salt Institue
W
wyliepoon
Guest
Star
Link to article
An ice-free CN Tower
Mar 07, 2007 08:21 AM
Leslie Ferenc
Matthew Chung
Staff Reporters
As the city ponders what to do with massive hunks of ice clinging to the CN Tower, a New Hampshire company has the ultimate solution.
New technology from a company called Ice Engineering could have the tower's walls ice-free in a flick of a switch.
Victor Petrenko, a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College has developed a film that uses an electric pulse to melt ice and snow in less than a second.
It can be applied to any surface – including concrete, which makes up the CN Tower.
The pulse melts a thin layer of ice right as it meets the surface, forcing the ice to slide off.
The invention is already being used on the cables of the Uddevalla Bridge in Sweden, where built-up ice kept crashing down on vehicles in winter, explained ice engineering manager Gabriel Martinez.
A transparent electrically conductive film is also being used in Russia to de-ice a huge glass dome over a mall.
The bridge's problem was solved by wrapping the bridge's cables with a special stainless steel foil, which is heated with a short pulse of electricity.
It would have come in handy this week on the CN Tower as morning rush-hour traffic was snarled for two straight days.
Police shut down the Gardiner Expressway in both directions Monday after high winds sent sheets of ice from the tower hurtling down on the highway.
The Gardiner reopened yesterday but not until about 9 a.m., after the morning rush.
Police also re-opened King St. in the financial district as the threat of falling ice from office buildings abated, but kept streets around the Rogers Centre closed.
Go Transit said all of its trains were able to operate safely on Monday.
Police, however, said they would close roads again if the ice threatens motorists.
To keep the ice from ever building up on the tower again, foil could be wrapped around it, Martinez explained.
And all else that would be needed is a power supply for the jolt.
The only problem?
It would take about a month to do the work, Martinez said.
"It wouldn't do you much good now," he said.
So, while many Torontonians have had fun speculating on how authorities could zap the giant ice cube, it looks like the job will be left up to old Mother Nature.
And Environment Canada says the ice won't hold the city hostage much longer.
Temperatures warming through the week to 5C, along with rain predicted for Saturday, and the force of gravity, should combine to weaken the ice, said David Phillips, a senior climatologist with the agency.
"Certainly by the weekend I would be surprised if it was still there," said Phillips.
"All of the factors I could think of are visible this weekend."
Since the ice is attached to the northeast side of the tower, around the 400-metre level, it is not as vulnerable to the sun, Phillips said, which could explain its already extended shelf life.
When it does thaw, police are hoping water will simply flow down the tower walls.
But, if the wind picks up, it's possible that chunks of melting ice will break off and plummet to the ground, said University of Toronto civil engineering professor Kim Pressnail
CN Tower officials said they were meeting with experts and city officials, discussing various options for removing sections of ice attached to the tower's upper antenna mast.
But high winds and frigid temperatures make it difficult to safely try anything, they said.
Getting someone up on the tower to chip away at the ice was believed to be one of the considerations, said Sgt. Josi Fovic of 52 Division.
A freak combination of high winds, water and frozen concrete created this frozen headache, a by-product of last Thursday's big storm, on the 533-metre-tall tower.
A spokesperson for the tower owner Canada Lands Co. said that the company understands motorists frustrations.
"Like all owners of tall buildings in downtown Toronto, we of course feel very bad that the ice storm of last Thursday has caused a situation resulting in major traffic delays," said Gordon McIver.
"We do believe, however, that public safety must come first and foremost, and therefore support the recent decisions made by the City of Toronto and the police force to ensure total public safety."
Toronto's not the only city facing problems with falling ice.
Last month, officials from the Chicago Department of Buildings issued their annual warning to downtown pedestrians to be cautious around tall buildings.
Chicago has perennial difficulties with falling snow and ice that accumulates on downtown highrises.
Warning signs are erected to warn of potential danger every year around this time since a man died after being hit by falling ice in front of the Neiman Marcus Building in February 1994.
Link to article
An ice-free CN Tower
Mar 07, 2007 08:21 AM
Leslie Ferenc
Matthew Chung
Staff Reporters
As the city ponders what to do with massive hunks of ice clinging to the CN Tower, a New Hampshire company has the ultimate solution.
New technology from a company called Ice Engineering could have the tower's walls ice-free in a flick of a switch.
Victor Petrenko, a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College has developed a film that uses an electric pulse to melt ice and snow in less than a second.
It can be applied to any surface – including concrete, which makes up the CN Tower.
The pulse melts a thin layer of ice right as it meets the surface, forcing the ice to slide off.
The invention is already being used on the cables of the Uddevalla Bridge in Sweden, where built-up ice kept crashing down on vehicles in winter, explained ice engineering manager Gabriel Martinez.
A transparent electrically conductive film is also being used in Russia to de-ice a huge glass dome over a mall.
The bridge's problem was solved by wrapping the bridge's cables with a special stainless steel foil, which is heated with a short pulse of electricity.
It would have come in handy this week on the CN Tower as morning rush-hour traffic was snarled for two straight days.
Police shut down the Gardiner Expressway in both directions Monday after high winds sent sheets of ice from the tower hurtling down on the highway.
The Gardiner reopened yesterday but not until about 9 a.m., after the morning rush.
Police also re-opened King St. in the financial district as the threat of falling ice from office buildings abated, but kept streets around the Rogers Centre closed.
Go Transit said all of its trains were able to operate safely on Monday.
Police, however, said they would close roads again if the ice threatens motorists.
To keep the ice from ever building up on the tower again, foil could be wrapped around it, Martinez explained.
And all else that would be needed is a power supply for the jolt.
The only problem?
It would take about a month to do the work, Martinez said.
"It wouldn't do you much good now," he said.
So, while many Torontonians have had fun speculating on how authorities could zap the giant ice cube, it looks like the job will be left up to old Mother Nature.
And Environment Canada says the ice won't hold the city hostage much longer.
Temperatures warming through the week to 5C, along with rain predicted for Saturday, and the force of gravity, should combine to weaken the ice, said David Phillips, a senior climatologist with the agency.
"Certainly by the weekend I would be surprised if it was still there," said Phillips.
"All of the factors I could think of are visible this weekend."
Since the ice is attached to the northeast side of the tower, around the 400-metre level, it is not as vulnerable to the sun, Phillips said, which could explain its already extended shelf life.
When it does thaw, police are hoping water will simply flow down the tower walls.
But, if the wind picks up, it's possible that chunks of melting ice will break off and plummet to the ground, said University of Toronto civil engineering professor Kim Pressnail
CN Tower officials said they were meeting with experts and city officials, discussing various options for removing sections of ice attached to the tower's upper antenna mast.
But high winds and frigid temperatures make it difficult to safely try anything, they said.
Getting someone up on the tower to chip away at the ice was believed to be one of the considerations, said Sgt. Josi Fovic of 52 Division.
A freak combination of high winds, water and frozen concrete created this frozen headache, a by-product of last Thursday's big storm, on the 533-metre-tall tower.
A spokesperson for the tower owner Canada Lands Co. said that the company understands motorists frustrations.
"Like all owners of tall buildings in downtown Toronto, we of course feel very bad that the ice storm of last Thursday has caused a situation resulting in major traffic delays," said Gordon McIver.
"We do believe, however, that public safety must come first and foremost, and therefore support the recent decisions made by the City of Toronto and the police force to ensure total public safety."
Toronto's not the only city facing problems with falling ice.
Last month, officials from the Chicago Department of Buildings issued their annual warning to downtown pedestrians to be cautious around tall buildings.
Chicago has perennial difficulties with falling snow and ice that accumulates on downtown highrises.
Warning signs are erected to warn of potential danger every year around this time since a man died after being hit by falling ice in front of the Neiman Marcus Building in February 1994.
H
heckles2
Guest
Wouldn't an instant ice defroster cause ice to slide off the CN Tower all winter long, as opposed to only a few days throughout winter? :lol
B
Bogtrotter
Guest
Yeh I guess, but one would think they would be waffer thin and relatively harmless.