It’s no secret that the weather gets cold in the northeast, and as we roll into December, it’s also no secret that winter weather has arrived. As a homeowner I spend a significant time shoveling snow, and because of the limited sun exposure of our driveway and sidewalk, I constantly struggle with de-icers.
Over the years I’ve found a few brands that effectively melt ice, but I’ve also learned that the better these de-icers are at melting ice, the worse they seem to be for the environment and more importantly for our pets.
No matter how hard I try, whenever I use a de-icer, it always gets tracked into the house on my shoes. And when that de-icer chemical ends up on the floors of our home, our cat always manages to find it. Because of this, I’m always on the lookout for more environmentally friendly and pet-friendly de-icers.
I recently had the opportunity to try out STAR's TECH ECO-ST Pet & Eco-Friendly Deicer. This Starfish De-Icer uses “marine waste” from predatory Starfish making it friendly to not only pets and plants, but also concrete and even your car. Of course I’m wondering how well it works, so off we go…
I first tried out ECO-ST on a frozen patch on our deck (see video above). This was pretty challenging since there is a significant cold airspace under the deck and the deck is exposed to high winds. I was really surprised at how quickly the ECO-ST started melting the ice (about a minute) and how completely the overall ice was melted after about 5-mins. ECO-ST claims to have a melting performance of 166% compared to sodium chloride’s 100% and I’d have to say it does seem to be much faster melting the ice. My test was done on a cloudy and windy day with temperatures only reaching 21F so I was really pleased with that melting performance.
I next tested ECO-ST out in our driveway on some of the icy patches left behind by melting snow. Once again the ECO-ST lived up to it’s claims of melting ice quickly. I also noticed much less of the typical white salty residue left behind by traditional rock salt on the driveway. I did also get some of the ECO-ST on our grass near the driveway, and after checking it a few days later, the grass seemed normal and not burned or damaged in any way.
I didn’t have a real scientific way to quantify how safe ECO-ST is for pets or children, but based on my experience with grass, I’d have to say I believe the claims that it is safer.
Overall ECO-ST did a really great job at melting ice, even in very cold, shady and windy locations. The melting was fast and thorough and the granules had no negative effect on the plants or grass nearby. The melting residue was much less than traditional rock salt and the fact that it is pet-safe, child-safe, plant-safe and even better for concrete and metal makes for a winning combination. Try out ECO-ST for yourself, and when you do try it, be sure to let us know what YOU think….and check out the reviews on Amazon.
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