SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Cementitious content of one batch, as batched.
Use the figure from the mix design for the batch size everything else here is quoted at — most commonly one cubic metre or one cubic yard. Supplementary cementitious materials go in with the cement; their specific heat is close enough that ACI's equation treats them together.
Temperature of the cement as it leaves the silo.
Freshly ground cement arrives hot and a silo holds that heat for days. It is also the ingredient with the least influence here — cement is a fifth of the batch mass and carries a fifth of water's specific heat, so even a very hot silo moves the answer by a degree or two.
Coarse and fine aggregate together, dry, for the same batch.
Enter the dry mass; the water riding on the stone is entered separately below as a percentage, because it behaves as water in the heat balance rather than as aggregate. Coarse and fine are combined here since they share the same specific heat in ACI's equation.
Temperature of the stockpile at the depth the loader is digging.
This is the input that dominates the answer, because aggregate is three quarters of the batch mass. It is also the one most often guessed: a stockpile surface baking in the sun can be twenty degrees above the material a metre in, and shading or sprinkling stockpiles is the cheapest temperature control there is.
Surface water carried on the stone, as a percentage of its dry mass.
Free moisture is water in the heat balance, not aggregate — it has water's specific heat and sits at the stockpile's temperature. On a wet sand this can be several percent of a large mass, which is why leaving it out biases the prediction.
Water added at the plant, excluding whatever the aggregate brought with it.
Water is entered by mass because the equation is a heat balance, and one litre of water is one kilogram closely enough for this purpose. Any part of it batched as ice is taken out below rather than deducted here.
Temperature of the liquid water as batched.
Water has more than four times the specific heat of aggregate per unit mass but is only about seven percent of the batch, so chilling it moves the mix a useful amount and rarely enough on its own. That is the arithmetic that pushes hot-weather work toward ice.
How much of the batch water is charged as flaked or crushed ice instead of liquid.
Ice is powerful because melting it costs about eighty times as much heat as warming the same mass of water by one degree. The practical ceiling is the point where the last of it has to melt before the mixer discharges — beyond roughly three quarters of the batch water, undissolved ice reaches the truck and leaves voids where it later melts.
The as-delivered temperature the specification allows or requires.
Hot-weather specifications commonly cap delivery in the low thirties; cold-weather ones set a floor that rises as the section gets thinner. Enter the limit your specification names, and this page reports the ice mass and the water temperature that would each reach it.
Predicted concrete temperature
81.5 °F
A prediction of the mix temperature leaving the plant. Haul time, drum friction and sun on the barrel all add to it before discharge, and none of them is in this balance.
- Same batch with no ice substituted
- 81.47 °F
- Difference from the target
- -4.53 Δ°F
- Ice charged
- 0 lb
- Liquid water charged
- 330 lb
- Free moisture riding on the aggregate
- 122.4 lb
- Ice that would reach the target on its own
- 0 lb
- Water temperature that would reach the target
- 88.67 °F
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Concrete Mix Temperature and Ice Substitution Calculator: 81.47 °F — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
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How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- ACI 305R Guide to Hot Weather Concreting mixing-temperature equation: T = [0.22(Ta·Ma + Tc·Mc) + Tw·Mw + Twa·Mwa] / [0.22(Ma + Mc) + Mw + Mwa], where 0.22 is the ratio of the specific heat of cement and aggregate to that of water, Mwa is the free moisture riding on the aggregate and Twa its temperature
- Ice substitution, from the same equation: subtract 79.6 x Mi from the numerator and add Mi to the denominator, working in °C and kilograms. 79.6 is the latent heat of fusion of ice divided by the specific heat of water, with the ice taken as being at 0 °C
- ACI 305.1 Specification for Hot Weather Concreting — the specification that sets a maximum as-delivered temperature and the protection measures that go with it
- ACI 306.1 Specification for Cold Weather Concreting — the minimum as-placed temperatures that govern the other end of the target range, and the reason heated water is a substitution as legitimate as ice
Inputs used
- Cement Mass in the Batch
- 705 lb
- Cement Temperature
- 104 °F
- Total Aggregate Mass in the Batch
- 4080 lb
- Aggregate Temperature
- 82.4 °F
- Free Moisture on the Aggregate (% of dry mass)
- 3
- Batch Water Added at the Plant
- 330 lb
- Batch Water Temperature
- 68 °F
- Share of the Batch Water Weighed Out as Ice (%)
- 0
- Target Concrete Temperature
- 86 °F
Intermediate steps
- Same batch with no ice substituted
- 81.47 °F
- Difference from the target
- -4.53 Δ°F
- Ice charged
- 0 lb
- Liquid water charged
- 330 lb
- Free moisture riding on the aggregate
- 122.4 lb
- Ice that would reach the target on its own
- 0 lb
- Water temperature that would reach the target
- 88.67 °F
Confidence note: A prediction of the mix temperature leaving the plant. Haul time, drum friction and sun on the barrel all add to it before discharge, and none of them is in this balance.
What this calculation does not cover
- Predicts the temperature at the mixer, not at the point of placement.
- Aggregate temperature dominates the answer and is the input most often estimated rather than measured.
- Cement and aggregate are treated with one shared specific heat, as ACI's equation does.
- Ice must be fully melted before discharge; beyond roughly three quarters of the batch water that stops being reliable.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-06 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations4
- ACI 305R Guide to Hot Weather Concreting mixing-temperature equation: T = [0.22(Ta·Ma + Tc·Mc) + Tw·Mw + Twa·Mwa] / [0.22(Ma + Mc) + Mw + Mwa], where 0.22 is the ratio of the specific heat of cement and aggregate to that of water, Mwa is the free moisture riding on the aggregate and Twa its temperature
- Ice substitution, from the same equation: subtract 79.6 x Mi from the numerator and add Mi to the denominator, working in °C and kilograms. 79.6 is the latent heat of fusion of ice divided by the specific heat of water, with the ice taken as being at 0 °C
- ACI 305.1 Specification for Hot Weather Concreting — the specification that sets a maximum as-delivered temperature and the protection measures that go with it
- ACI 306.1 Specification for Cold Weather Concreting — the minimum as-placed temperatures that govern the other end of the target range, and the reason heated water is a substitution as legitimate as ice
Which documents these citations point at
Standards referenced: ACI 305R, ACI 305.1, ACI 306.1 (American Concrete Institute, United States).
Cite this page
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Tools and safety for this job
To place and finish concrete, erect formwork and saw-cut cured concrete. Generic types, no brands, no prices.
Protection this work requires
- Cutting or grinding concrete, masonry, screed, tile or fibre-cement board releases respirable silica: cut wet or extract at the tool, and wear a P2/N95 respirator at minimum — a nuisance dust mask does not filter it.
- Hardwood dust is a recognised carcinogen: extract at the tool and wear a P2/N95 respirator when cutting or sanding indoors.
- Wet cement and lime burn skin and eyes painlessly until the damage is done: waterproof gloves to EN 374, safety glasses whenever the mix can splash, and never kneel in wet mix in permeable trousers.
- Saws, grinders and breakers run above 85 dB, where hearing damage accumulates and does not recover: defenders or plugs for every cut, not just the long ones.
- Breakers and grinders cause permanent nerve damage: limit continuous trigger time, keep hands warm, and stop if fingers tingle or blanch.
- Boards, blocks and bagged material cause most lasting back injuries on small sites: two people or a lifter for full sheets, and never a bag on one shoulder up a ladder.
Show the 17 tools this job needsHide tools
Essential
Angle grinder
Bull float and edger
Circular saw
Claw hammer
Dust extractor or vacuum with a fine filter
Screed bar or rail
Shovel and spade
Spirit level
String line and pins
Tape measure
Wheelbarrow
Recommended
Chalk line
Cordless drill/driver
Floor or cut-off saw
Plate compactor
SDS rotary hammer
Optional
Power float
Also needed as materials: chalk refill, circular saw blades, cutting and diamond discs, diamond blades, drill and driver bits, SDS bits and chisels.
what each concrete tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.
Predicted at 27.5 °C (81.5 °F) against a target of 30.0 °C (86.0 °F), this batch has 2.5 degrees Celsius of margin at the mixer, which is 4.5 Fahrenheit degrees. Spend it carefully: haul, drum friction and sun on the barrel all draw on it before the concrete reaches the forms.