Magnesium Chloride Warning!
10-10-2010, 03:35 PM
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Magnesium Chloride Warning!
This might be old news to most of you but it's new to me and it might help someone else.
So the city decided to put in a new dirt road near my work and as it was convenient, I started driving on it. As did many of my co-workers. I noticed on some days the road would be wet despite the lack of rain for many days. The mud that splattered up never seemed to dry. I mentioned this to a buddy and he told me it was magnesium chloride. Now many of you might be familar with it's application as a de-icer in the winter. I am aware of this and frequently rinse it from my Jeep. However I didn't realize it was also used in dust control. Since many of us Jeep owners( myself included) don't wash them very often, a little mud seemed like no big deal. Boy was I wrong! With the mag chloride creating the mud by actually absorbing water from the air, it now sat on my stock front bumper and fender flares. When I did wash it off, it left stains. It might just be time to upgrade those!
How bad is this stuff? Well mag chloride is acidic due to the hydrochloric compound for the amplification of electrified hydrogen atoms. That means it eats brake lines and pads, chips paint and corrodes most metals. It's also bad for electrical wires. It can dissolve the insulation and cause all sorts of nasty electrical gremlins.
So if you see an unusally wet road on an otherwise dry day, proceed with caution. I've been noticing it more and more on county roads, forest service roads, and oil and gas lease roads. One more thing, rain doesn't really seem to wash it from the roads. So now all mud is suspect!!
So the city decided to put in a new dirt road near my work and as it was convenient, I started driving on it. As did many of my co-workers. I noticed on some days the road would be wet despite the lack of rain for many days. The mud that splattered up never seemed to dry. I mentioned this to a buddy and he told me it was magnesium chloride. Now many of you might be familar with it's application as a de-icer in the winter. I am aware of this and frequently rinse it from my Jeep. However I didn't realize it was also used in dust control. Since many of us Jeep owners( myself included) don't wash them very often, a little mud seemed like no big deal. Boy was I wrong! With the mag chloride creating the mud by actually absorbing water from the air, it now sat on my stock front bumper and fender flares. When I did wash it off, it left stains. It might just be time to upgrade those!
How bad is this stuff? Well mag chloride is acidic due to the hydrochloric compound for the amplification of electrified hydrogen atoms. That means it eats brake lines and pads, chips paint and corrodes most metals. It's also bad for electrical wires. It can dissolve the insulation and cause all sorts of nasty electrical gremlins.
So if you see an unusally wet road on an otherwise dry day, proceed with caution. I've been noticing it more and more on county roads, forest service roads, and oil and gas lease roads. One more thing, rain doesn't really seem to wash it from the roads. So now all mud is suspect!!
10-10-2010, 03:56 PM
#2
JK Super Freak
Join Date: Nov 2009
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Thats crazy. I used to work at a chemical plant and we would deliver this stuff to cement factories. It really should be used with extreme caution. It is very corrosive to exposed metal. I ve seen them use it in extreme cases where dust control was the issue, like here in Maricopa county. Just keep rinsing this stuff off. Good luck.