My local area is often featured on the national news due to winter blizzard conditions.
Our region is known as the “snow belt” due to the excessive amount of snowfall.
The winter weather frequently lasts for eight straight months, and the temperature drops well below freezing. It’s not unusual to experience conditions down to negative twenty five degrees. It’s very unpleasant to spend hours outside shoveling snow. The job is repetitive, labor-intensive and time-consuming. It can be necessary to shovel out the driveway, walkways and mailbox several times per day. After several years of dealing with snow removal, I invested into a snowmelt system. The installation was quite expensive because it was necessary to dig up the existing walkways, garage floor and driveway to implement the network of pipes. I then needed to pay to have pavement laid down over top. The pipes are connected to my boiler heating system. Inside the house, the boiler is the source for radiant flooring. It pumps heated water through pipes concealed beneath the floors. The heat spreads evenly across the floor, rises slowly and provides a very even temperature. Because the equipment is entirely hidden it takes up no living space and doesn’t detract from aesthetics. By using water instead of air to convey heat energy, the boiler avoids concerns with air contaminants and insufficient humidity. Outside, the snowmelt system works much the same way. Reacting to moisture and temperature drop, the system automatically starts up to keep the pavement clear. There is no need to shovel or plow and no worries over slipping and falling on the ice.