wrote:
On 14 Jan 2005 12:17:41 -0800, wrote:


Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
news HotRod wrote:
Can anyone recommend a good site on how to add radiant heat to
an
outside, sidewalk. I want to add a 100' side walk to my shop to
keep
me out of the mud and wet grass and am interested in the pro's
and
con's of heating so that I do not have to shovel...

Before you invest in the hardware, find out how much this is
going to
cost to operate. It is very expensive.

--
Joseph Meehan

I recall seeing that it is even illegal to heat a driveway or
sidewalk, but
I sure don't know that for a fact. (could be some leftover trivia
from the
energy crisis) To operate it, I'd say you'd have to hit the
lottery
or be
the CEO of a major corporation. A big snowblower would pay for
itself in a
year.

According to these guys, it's not that much:

http://www.warmzone.com/questions-heated-driveways.asp

Q: What are the operational costs of your snow melting systems?

A: The average operational cost for a snow melting system is
approximately $0.28 per 100 square feet per hour. This figure is
based
on a system producing 28 watts/sq.ft. with a kwh rate of $0.10 per
hour. If you know the square feet of the area you want to heat, and
your kwh rate, you can calculate the operational costs with this
formula: heatable sq.ft. times watts/sq.ft.,d ivided by 1000, times
your kwh rate.


Remember, these systems don't run continuously, and you can even get
sensors that will determine if 1) it's cold enough and 2) there's
moisture.

Roughly speaking, that sounds like the 100 foot sidewalk the OP
proposes would cost around $1 an hour, or $24 a day during cold
weather. Just one week of cold and wet would cost $168. Having a
solid
week of cold and wet is a common thing in some locales.

Ok, here in detroit, 1kwh is $.07885 as of today
http://my.dteenergy.com/myAccount/pdfs/rates.pdf


So for 100 sq ft area at 28 watts

100 * 28 /1000 * 7.885 = $.22 / hr

Bout 1/4 of what you calculated.

Wet and cold continuously for a week? Where? Usually when it snows
here, it snows for a couple of hours. We had a big one last week, and
it snowed for maybe 12 hours. Guess it depends where you live.



If you pay for your snow removal, I think it could pay for itself..
You'd have to figure out the numbers for yourself.