De-Ice, Ice Baby With The Walk-Behind Salt Spreader
By Audra Heaslip
If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to bruise your backside (or worse) after falling on a patch of ice, you know how important it is to keep walkways and stairs clear of the slippery stuff. Ice Buster’s walk-behind salt spreader provides a good mid-range solution for de-icing, with mittenfuls of kitty litter being at the low end and multi-thousand dollar hoppers attached to your truck bed at the high end.
The walk-behind spreader’s pneumatic wheels roll easily, and a regulator on the handle controls the flow. It holds up to 100 lbs. of dry salt or other free-flowing de-icer materials, according to the folks at Northern Tool + Equipment. Customers give the spreader generally positive reviews, with the main complaint being that the spreader requires a lot of assembly.
For those living in icy regions, the spreader, which retails for around $160, could be a good choice for keeping your walkways safe. Just be sure to have a vacuum handy for all the boot-shaken salt crystals near your front door.
Walk-Behind Salt Spreader [Northern Tool]
Via Amazon [What’s This?] [What's This?]
December 31st, 2007 at 3:00 pm
I’ve been using a $40 Scotts broadcast spreader for this task. Much better than doing it by hand but wow is it not right tool for the job. The hard plastic “drive” wheel often fails to generate enough friction with the icy ground to spin the spreader.
January 1st, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’d be worried that the salt would overshoot the walk and kill the grass on either side. Most plants don’t do well in saline soil, hence the ancient scorched-earth tactic of salting the enemy’s fields to make them useless.
January 1st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Nate: Just a thought, but if it’s all under enough snow that you need to salt the walk — especially up North where it’s probably that way a good chunk of the year — wouldn’t the grass be dead anyway?
January 1st, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Nope, not dead just dormant. As soon as the weather warms up and the soil has a chance to thaw, the grass comes right back. Unfortunately, the cities around here use salt for everything, plus a salt brine mixed in. When that stuff gets plowed into your yard you can kiss that grass goodbye.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
When I lived in NY somehow we never lost grass from the salt pushed off the roads. The biggest problems the salt caused were ruining cars and carpets. But if I had flower beds, etc. I would be careful with it.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
This spreader comes with an attached deflector. It allows for control when salting sidewalks. The spread can be as small as 3 feet in diameter.