By JAIME ANTON

The Post staff writer

The service department is singing the Epoke's praises.

This high-tech salt spreader the city is using on a trial basis uses less salt - one Epoke truck can do the work of three traditional salt loads.

Bell Equipment recently demonstrated how an Epoke salt spreader works and is allowing service crews to have some quality training time with the spreader this winter.

Service Director Kris Kamps said it works like a dream.

"The guys that have been in it have been very impressed with it. We've had great success with it, and they are going to allow us to use it through January," Kamps said.

One of the significant things crews have noticed is that the Epoke eliminates the need for an additional pass that regular plows sometimes have to make in snowy areas.

"So much material has stayed on the roadway that it's already melted and they don't have to make that additional pass," Kamps said.

"So it saves on material and saves on labor?" Ward 1 Councilman John Nickell asked at last week's Streets Committee meeting, which he chairs.

"Absolutely," Kamps said.

What makes the Epoke spreader unique is that it grinds rock salt into a much finer product. As this finer salt falls into the salt spreader, it is sprayed with brine.

"This turns it into a paste, so you don't have the pellets bouncing all over the place," Kamps has said.

With the traditional salt spreader, it is estimated that about 41 percent of the dry rock salt that's laid down is lost due to scatter and bounce.

By adding brine, that number is reduced to about 20 percent, Kamps said.

The Epoke drastically cuts even this percentage because the mixture is first ground. The amount of salt lost using Epoke technology is a mere 4 percent.

Also, the spinner is designed in such a way as to help keep more of the mixture in the roadway where it belongs.

The Epoke can be affixed permanently to a truck and there are also apparatuses available that retrofit to trucks. An Epoke can transform a regular dump truck into a salt spreader in a matter of minutes.

The city is trying out the Epoke with hopes of purchasing the equipment down the road. There are currently nine large salt trucks, five of which spread strictly salt and four that are capable of spreading brine.

"This is a test to see if it's something we really want to go with next year or the year after," Stefanik said. "The comments have all been positive."

The city has been working for some time to outfit all trucks with brine.

Council President Vince Gentile said he wants Kamps to notify council during the next weather event so they can see first hand what the Epoke can do.

"You have all our cell phone and e-mails, we could get a report of where this thing is, what route, so we can take a ride over there and see the results," he said.

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