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Forums > Green Building Technologies > Radiant Heating > Subject: Snow melt system - electric or tubing??

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daveydogg

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Posts:1

08/30/2006 9:31 PM
Need to melt snow on very steep (12-15% grade) driveway, but only on two parts (650ft. driveway, with steep parts at base (far from house) and near top.). Can I use the electric wire embedded in asphalt type, or Pex tubing with glycol sol'n for only these parts? I assume that would be hard since so far from house. Help!

Earthenguy User is Offline

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Posts:1

04/16/2007 12:24 PM
It may be a bit long ago but I thought that I would give some feedback on this. There are many products out there that either the sales peaople or supplier may or may not say "Yes our product is right for you" however I would just like to say consider more... All costs, performamce, requirements of installation and long term maintanence. With that in mind we have found that there is only 1 product that has a performance, cost (both intitially & long term) and maintanence curve that justify our using it when ever we use Radiant heat. Thats the Step Warmfloor Product from Electroplastics inc. its a thermoconductive polymer that is 24volts, self regulating and has NO moving parts i.e. no parts to ever need maintanence and its cost about 49% less to run afterward. Thats our input.

HandyHammer User is Offline

Registered Users

Posts:32

06/29/2007 6:29 PM
I have to disagree with Earthenguy. I have put a couple of electric radiant driveways in for my customers and have researched the products and learned that the electroplastic method did not produce enough heat and was recommended to run it 24/7 during the cold months! That takes an efficient method (electric) and destroys the result. I crunched the math and found that the electro plastics method would have cost exponentially more than the Danfoss product I bought from Warmzone.com. I used a cable product from Warmzone that I rolled out like a carpet and it worked great. I am a believer in the electric method for heating driveways and yet I agree that it is not for everyone. It is not cheap and there are other less luxurious ways to deal with the snow on your walks and driveway.

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