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How can I make a ice-melting system to install under my asphalt driveway?

J

James Beck

Jan 1, 1970
0
I keep hearing the wacko tree-huggers saying that but I'll believe
it when I see it. They might just as well shut the state down from
Dec1 to May1.
I didn't say they quit using EVERYTHING, they just quit using NaCl.
I'm sure they have a mix of other melt enhancers along with the good 'ol
grit mix.

Jim
 
K

krw

Jan 1, 1970
0
I didn't say they quit using EVERYTHING, they just quit using NaCl.
I'm sure they have a mix of other melt enhancers along with the good 'ol
grit mix.

THey don't use alternatives because they are too expensive. Grit
(e.g. sand) is specifically *not* used because it is worse than
salt. 100% salt is used for grit even when it's too cold for it to
melt anything.
 
E

Ecnerwal

Jan 1, 1970
0
James Beck said:
Why run a wire through the thing when hot "water" would do just as well,
AND the technology is already out there. Small hot water heater,
radiant floor tubing, recirculator pump, a pressure bladder for reserve
liquid/expansion control, temp sensor and/or manual switch. A 50/50 mix
of automotive antifreeze and water. Done.

The hot water heater won't be small; or if it is, the driveway won't be
melting snow for more than the first few feet of tubing. The bill to run
it will be large. Any have the common sense to use polypropylene glycol,
not ethylene glycol - any leaks will kill less of the neighborhood pets.

The ONLY way this makes any sense, and limited sense at that, is if you
use solar heat, and are content to have the driveway more effectively
melt off when the sun shines (ie, faster and/or more throughly than it
would do just from the sun shining on the snow). The cost to do so is
still high, but at least it's not an ongoing expense. It would let you
relocate heat from where the sun shines to less sunny parts of the
driveway.

Not completely true: if you happen to have a hot spring or other source
of vast waste heat in your house, the driveway makes as good a place to
dump it as any. But that isn't a common problem...
 
G

Guest

Jan 1, 1970
0
James Beck said:
I didn't say they quit using EVERYTHING, they just quit using NaCl.
I'm sure they have a mix of other melt enhancers along with the good 'ol
grit mix.

In my state it is all salt, all the time.
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
---
And you think Americans are stupid?

At the very least we would have figured out, ahead of time, what it
would cost to run it and then, based on that, made a decision to
build it or not.

As it is, it sounds like you yokels spent hundreds of thousands or
millions to build it and then when you fired it up you found out it
was prohibitively expensive to run.

What a bunch of fucking idiots.


Homer's just mad because he didn't get the contract to rip off the
taxpayers.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
D

D from BC

Jan 1, 1970
0
How can I make a ice-melting system to install under my asphalt
driveway?

I'm going to be repaving my driveway and want to make a snow melting
system. Don't know how to design it or what size wire I should use or
if I need 110 or 220, how many different circuits I need based on the
square footage.

Wish I had answer...I only have a wild idea:
Conductive asphalt!! :)
Maybe mix in a conductive filler in the asphalt and make a gigantic
power resistor.
(I know this idea is full of flaws..but it's good entertainment :) )

D from BC
 
J

jasen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wish I had answer...I only have a wild idea:
Conductive asphalt!! :)
Maybe mix in a conductive filler in the asphalt and make a gigantic
power resistor.
(I know this idea is full of flaws..but it's good entertainment :) )

why not? conductive cement has been done....
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
The obvious solution is to move the driveway to where there is no ice.

Yes, like to Arizona or New Mexico.
 
C

colin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael A. Terrell said:
Homer's just mad because he didn't get the contract to rip off the
taxpayers.

Wich bridge was that ?
not the bridge some american bought by mistake ?

Colin =^.^=
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yes, like to Arizona or New Mexico.

Ummmm? Kingman, Flagstaff, Williams, Halley Lake (often the COLDEST
location in the US), Winslow, Holbrook, and on and on and....

...Jim Thompson
 
F

Fred Bloggs

Jan 1, 1970
0
How can I make a ice-melting system to install under my asphalt
driveway?

I'm going to be repaving my driveway and want to make a snow melting
system. Don't know how to design it or what size wire I should use or
if I need 110 or 220, how many different circuits I need based on the
square footage.

You have all the heat energy in the world just 30" or so under the
driveway, so the obvious answer is to simply pump this to the surface
and use conventional radiant heater channeling proven in this
application: http://www.californiahavenhomes.com/Heating/heating.html ,
for many thousands of years actually, use a solar assist if you want,
but a simple heat exchanger of probably only 100 kilofeet of tubing with
sub-frostline soil and a cheap pump should do it...The fundamental
problem with "melting" anything is something called *latent heat* to
produce a phase change, from solid to liquid, and this is quite large
for water, so read what this loudmouth has to say about
it:http://hypertextbook.com/physics/thermal/heat-latent/ to determine
your basic sizing.
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
colin said:
Wich bridge was that ?
not the bridge some american bought by mistake ?

Colin =^.^=


Why would an American want a Canadian bridge, unless it crossed the
US-Canada border?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
jasen said:
why not? conductive cement has been done....


Great idea, if you want to electrocute someone.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
A

Al

Jan 1, 1970
0
How can I make a ice-melting system to install under my asphalt
driveway?

I'm going to be repaving my driveway and want to make a snow melting
system. Don't know how to design it or what size wire I should use or
if I need 110 or 220, how many different circuits I need based on the
square footage.

You have all the heat energy in the world just 30" or so under the
driveway, so the obvious answer is to simply pump this to the surface
and use conventional radiant heater channeling proven in this
application: http://www.californiahavenhomes.com/Heating/heating.html ,
for many thousands of years actually, use a solar assist if you want,
but a simple heat exchanger of probably only 100 kilofeet of tubing with
sub-frostline soil and a cheap pump should do it...The fundamental
problem with "melting" anything is something called *latent heat* to
produce a phase change, from solid to liquid, and this is quite large
for water, so read what this loudmouth has to say about
it:http://hypertextbook.com/physics/thermal/heat-latent/ to determine
your basic sizing.
[/QUOTE]

Check out this patent number: 5763858

I have an APS-3 deicing controller made by Environmental Technology, Inc.

If you are interested in buying it, reply here. It's about a foot by 12
inches by 3 inches and weighs about 5 lbs. You pay the shipping and your
estimate of a reasonable price for it. If you want a picture, I'll post
it in a convenient location.

Al
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wich bridge was that ?
not the bridge some american bought by mistake ?

The electrical ice melting system in a bridge to nowhere in Alaska? Who
wouldn't want that contract? :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
 
H

Homer J Simpson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Check out this patent number: 5763858

I have an APS-3 deicing controller made by Environmental Technology, Inc.

If you are interested in buying it, reply here. It's about a foot by 12
inches by 3 inches and weighs about 5 lbs. You pay the shipping and your
estimate of a reasonable price for it. If you want a picture, I'll post
it in a convenient location.

Or he could buy one from ACME. Maybe their snow melting system catches road
runners?
 
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