Roof Ice Melter

Usually, ice dams are not much of a concern for our home, but we had a worrisome amount this February. These ice melt pucks are easy to toss onto the roof where needed. They seem to have alleviated the issue rather well. Our Amazon order of this must be taken a rough ride, as there were some broken and pulverized pucks on the bottom of the pail. Locally bought pails did not show this. My big tip is to seek out your local hardware stores, as I got a second bucket of the same product, same size for half of what I paid on Amazon. Support your local businesses

I was skeptical about this actually working, because I thought certainly it would just create MORE water to get stuck behind the ice. But I read about other people using this or similar products and they were all happy with them, so we tried it, and lo and behold! It worked like a charm! It only took my husband about 10 minutes to throw however many up there as he did, super easy. I was most impressed by the fact that you can SEE the channel in the ice. So there’s no doubt in our minds that the pucks did their job!

The pucks arrived with about 2/3rds of the intact, the rest broken or crumbled into powder. They did work to gradually break up the ice dams. Zero interior leaks. When I ran out of pucks I scooped the powder from broken ones into old socks and threw them on the roof. Worked even better that way. Calcium chloride works to -15 degrees! Much better than sodium chloride.

I have a very mixed reaction to this product. Yes, it melts ice as it should and helped somewhat with my ice dam. That said, there were problems. (1) The product is supposed to be a collection of pucks (which are tossed onto the roof to melt an ice dam), yet almost half of the pucks were shattered into bits or had been entirely smashed into a fine powder. (2) My house is two-stories tall and tossing pucks onto the ice dam in the correct position was nearly impossible. If your house is single-story or you can use a ladder, maybe you can place the pucks as directed. Otherwise, don't count on a distribution on your roof that will fix your problem. To use this product with any effectiveness, I needed to get on my roof, which the directions tell you not to do. (My roof is essentially flat, but I still wore a harness for safety.) On the plus side, I was able to sprinkle the powder into my gutters to help melt the mass of ice there. So, surprisingly, the powder came in handy, but only because I could basically get on top of my ice dam. (3) Even when used as directed, I'm not convinced that this product would have melted my ice dam. There was a lot of ice and I just don't know if this product would have worked. The pucks did dissolve into the ice beneath them and melted down to the roof so maybe they could do the trick. Although it was a pain, I resolved my ice dam by laboriously breaking it up with tools and, eventually, pouring warm water onto the roof and into the gutters. I was desperate for any help in breaking up my ice dam and I was glad to use Roof Ice Melter, but I wouldn't expect a miracle unless you have mostly intact pucks, you can place them manually in position, and your ice dam is not too severe. Good luck!

I bought the roof melt on Amazon when local stores ran out after two major snowstorms followed by a freeze. It can take a couple of tries to get the pucks to stay on the roof. I tried tossing them (rolled off) and flinging like a frisbee (went too far), but what worked BEST for me was flicking/spiraling it up like I would skip a stone on water. The pucks went and stayed where I wanted. I focused on the lower roof along the gutter and put several above the gutter spout. After a few hours it melted through the snow and ice and trickled down enough that slush started coming out from the gutter spout. Of course, it froze again overnight but I just tossed up more pucks the next day and our lower roof began to reappear. In total, I used about half of the pucks, but it was worth it to get rid of the ice dams and avoid roof damage. I should mention that I roof-raked the snow I could reach before tossing up the pucks, but I couldn't roof rake the ice dams.

I have to give this product credit for delivering such a creative customer experience. When I opened the box, the top layer looked great — solid, intact pieces that made me think I had received exactly what was advertised. It was only after digging deeper that I got to enjoy the real product: a generous collection of broken chunks and powder cleverly hidden underneath. Truly an innovative approach to packaging. The performance was just as impressive in its own unique way. After throwing the melters onto the roof, I kept checking to see that satisfying, obvious melting action you would normally expect from something called a “Roof Ice Melter.” But this product clearly believes in subtlety. The ice remained so confidently in place that I almost forgot I had used anything at all. What really completes the experience is that this is a chemical product, so even with Amazon Prime it is not returnable. That makes the whole thing feel even more convenient for the seller: send out a box that looks decent on top, hide the broken material and powder underneath, and the customer is basically stuck with it. So if you’re looking for a product that gives you the excitement of a bait-and-switch unboxing, followed by the thrill of watching little to no visible result on your roof, and then can’t even be returned, this is an excellent choice.

Works very well I just toss the on the roof where the ice is without getting on the roof. by the next day they melted a channel through the ice dam. repeat buyer

Great product idea but doesn’t work very well. The pucks are light weight and are easy to throw but HARD TO STICK / PLACE on the roof. They also have a limited effective area of 1 foot on the roof which is small. My bucket also had lots of broken pieces and powder. I ended up using these inside my frozen gutters to melt ice and they were only somewhat effective at this - not good at low temperatures. For $47 you can buy 100 pounds of calcium chloride. Sorry but buyer beware.