ice...unsecured load....WTF...????

Propylene glycol is also used as a food additive. It is the base for the vape liquid that every other trucker I come across seems to have adopted. It's relatively safe, although it was the Contact Dermatitis Allergen of the Year in 2018 too lol.

Ethylene glycol is not the same stuff, and is highly toxic.

 

Lol, that thing looks like it would last all of 2 minutes with me, and the price is a little steep, don't ya think.

 

The price is not as steep as you think.

Consider the price of a life. Or consider the price of an insurance claim and a ticket.

Consider the price as an insurance policy.

 

Cleaning the roof is a good thing, my point is that device wouldn't last 10 minutes with me. It's a good concept, just needs to be beefed up a little.

 

Problem I see is, what does one do the rest of the year. Seems like a big investment for 3 months of work.

 

True that, but I know a few people that make a winter business mounting snow plows on the front of pickup trucks. When it's not winter they have a lawn care business, or pull a chipper and have an arborist business.

I think there's a good business model for providing snow and ice clearing. There are automated machines that will get the job done, with a blade tipped with durable rubber that lowers down to apply pressure to the roof of the van. That would be pricey. But simply have a couple of ladder stands could allow a worker on either side to use hand tools to clear your roof.

The question is how much would you pay for such a service? I could see putting those ladder stands at a truck stop, lease space in the winter, and go to work.

 

True. That particular tool may not be the best one out there. It was simply the first that came up on a Google search. I have seen YouTube videos demonstrating tools like that. At least it can safely remove the deep snow. The ice, not so much.

 

After getting back from vacation December 2016 I came back to OKC after an ice storm. It took me 15 minutes to get into the truck, pounding on the door with my bare fist and breathing on the keyhole, before I successfully opened it. Rough startup at 15°F. Another two hours gently tapping with a rubber mallet deiced the windshield, windows, lights, etc.

The next morning I went to work on the deck of the flatbed. That was another two hours. Good thing, because my next load required 4x4's on the deck to support drill collars, motors, etc. Another driver on the same run didn't clean his deck. The down force pressure on the 4x4's melted the ice, loosened his straps, and he had a hell of a time reworking the load on the side of the road as the dunnage started "walking" and the load shifted.