"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message
If you really want to do the job right, you'd put a couple of inches of
foam board under the concrete. Otherwise, yes, you are trying to heat
the entire earth. Foam is used on some highways in Europe and is
becoming popular in garages here. I don't know, nor am I inclined to
search for, the specifics of the construction.
Well, it interests me enough to look. At one of the northern universities I
recall them designing the steam tunnel piping to run under all the sidewalks
and it worked out very efficiently. Since the steam was being piped to all
campus buildings anyway, it made perfect sense to use some of that heat to
melt snow.
FWIW, I really doubt if foam is necessary because heat rises and even
heating the soil below will eventually cause the surface to become warmer.
http://www.homeadvisor.com/article.s...way.11202.html
talks about home-based systems.
Heated Driveway Costs
Typically, the cost of a heated driveway system is between $12-$21 per
square foot. Looking at our data, the average cost of a radiant heating
system installation is $3,892, with a low of $1,300 and a high of $7,500 in
that range. However, this price does not include the removal of the old
driveway or the cost of the new one. Unfortunately, our data doesn't show
the cost to remove the old driveway, but we do show the average asphalt
paving cost ($4,457) and concrete driveway cost ($3,650). The range of
asphalt driveway projects is much greater at $2,000-$25,000 than concrete at
$650-$7,091.
http://www.angieslist.com/articles/a...worth-cost.htm
says:
Actual Experience
Permalink Submitted by Frugal Rich Guy on Thu, 2013-04-18 08:46
I've had one for 20 years. It cost about $5k, because I needed to replace
the driveway anyway. I still have to use the snowblower, because I still
have to dig out the big pile at the end of the driveway thrown up by the
plows. So I remove the bulk of the snow all over the driveway with the
snowblower and then use the heat to melt what's left down to bare pavement.
Pretty much how others use salt. Costs about $10 per storm.
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concr...tems/costs.htm
says:
Costs to Install and Operate Snow Melting Systems - The costs to operate
snow melting systems vary widely depending on the size of the area being
treated, local utility costs, the average total hours of snowfall, and how
fast the system user wants to melt the snow. Obviously, the larger the area
being heated and the more snow there is, the higher the operating cost.
Also, a system used in a colder climate may require a higher wattage (for
electric) or more Btu (for hydronic) than a similar system used in a warmer
climate.
Watts Heatway, a supplier of hydronic systems, says annual operating costs
range from 12 to 25 cents per square foot. So on average, it would cost $120
to $250 each winter to melt snow off a 1,000-square-foot driveway.
Depending on local utility rates, electric systems may cost even more to
operate. EasyHeat, a supplier of electric mats for snow melting
applications, says that the seasonal cost to heat a 1,000-square-foot slab
at 50 kilowatts will run about $276 in areas of light snowfall (50 inches
per year or less) and $692 in areas with average snowfall (50 to 100
inches). Those estimates are based on an average kilowatt cost per hour of
6.92¢.
Material and installation costs vary widely too. For Warm Floor Centers
electric system, the materials alone run $4 to $6 per square foot, according
to Blackburn. Lee Hydronics system runs about $5 to $10 per square foot
installed. "The biggest variable is how far the embedded tubing is located
from the power source," claims Bailey. The farther away the utilities are,
the higher the installation and operating costs.
--
Bobby G.