# Do you salt your chiller?



## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Adding salt to ice/water mix causes a temperature drop that slows the melting rate and increases the freezing rate. The net result is that the ice melts more and more slowly after the initial addition of salt. 

I know as a kid we always added salt to the ice when making ice cream which was supposed to make the ice/water mixture colder.


Anyone tried this with their fog chiller?


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## bignick (Sep 25, 2008)

I add ice to my coolers for BBQs and Camping to keep everything extra cold for longer amounts of time. 

It sounds like a good idea to me.


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## grave danger (Sep 26, 2005)

i did it last year , still don't know if it works but i will do it again


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## lowdwnrob (Jul 2, 2008)

I thought you put salt down in the winter to melt ice. I think Im confussed.


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## Turbophanx (Jun 30, 2008)

it depends... Adding salt will in fact melt the ice, but the melted ice (now water) will have a higher density due to the salt, therfore it can go to a lower temprature before freezing. (this is why the ocean doesnt freeze but lakes do) If you are using a sealed fog system, (where the fog never actually touches the ice) this will work...

If however you need the fog to run through the ice and out the other side...eventually it will be flooded and your fog will go nowhere.

hope that helps


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Last year I was able to get dry ice from a local grocery store (Safeway). It worked great in my chiller (a little more expensive than regular ice though).


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## Atribune (Oct 6, 2008)

Adding salt will melt ice and create a brine solution. Brine solutions freeze at lower temperatures than water, I don't know how this would help in a fog chiller.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

I was thinking about this after I posted. My fog chiller (I forget the name) has the shelf where ice lays and fog passes up through it, chills and then goes back down. In this scenario the salt will be of no value, but I'm thinking about lining the bottom of my cooler with ice and salting it to help keep the temperatures down in the cooler. We'll see how it works.

If you run ice through a dryer vent hose and have the hose covered in ice I could see adding salt working there too.


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## jim6918 (Aug 18, 2006)

I tried this last year and the salt was picked up in the fog and killed my lawn. I would never use salt again.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

No...I don't think that salt will help in my case


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## Texan78 (Sep 25, 2008)

Might need to add you need use Rock Salt, not normal table salt for this to be effective.


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## TNBrad (Sep 10, 2007)

On the other forum we talked about mixing the rock salt into the water and then freeze our own ice. I thnk that water bottles with this in them could work too. What does everyone think? That way you could refreeze them and move them out with fresh bottles.


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## Texan78 (Sep 25, 2008)

TNBrad said:


> On the other forum we talked about mixing the rock salt into the water and then freeze our own ice. I thnk that water bottles with this in them could work too. What does everyone think? That way you could refreeze them and move them out with fresh bottles.


I use this method with my cooler chillers. I freeze salt water bottles and put those bottles in the fog tub. It seems to help some but if you are using a high wattage machine it isn't really going to matter.


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## -ND4SPD- (Oct 27, 2008)

I use rock salt in a sealed fog chiller & it seems to do just fine.


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## blacklightmike (Nov 2, 2008)

lowdwnrob said:


> I thought you put salt down in the winter to melt ice. I think Im confussed.


Two different salts involved here... table salt won't melt your driveway.


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## billman (May 3, 2006)

-ND4SPD- said:


> I use rock salt in a sealed fog chiller & it seems to do just fine.


Now, that is some good looking fog!!!


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## Devil (Nov 10, 2008)

How cold does the cooler have to get to keep the fog low to the ground?


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

colder than the air temp?


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