owb to melt snow on deck or porch?

[Joesell]

I walked through the snow the other day on the way to the hot tub and wondered if anyone has ever ran a loop under the deck to melt the snow. I don't want to get crazy and spend a ton.

Anyone think that some pex screwed to the bottom of the deck would throw enough heat to melt snow?

I don't want to run it full time so I think this section would be filled with anti freeze.

Any ideas?

 

[06switchback]

I'm sure it would that's how in floor heat works but why stop at the deck let's go with the entire drive way sidewalk and entryway

No more shoveling

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[06switchback]

It would definitely work with antifreeze and probably a plate heat exchanger but I think you would have to insulate under the pex so the heat went where it is supposed to and not wasted to heat under your deck

Depending on how much room you have under your deck it might be tough to install bur pex is pretty easy to work with

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[NSMaple1]

If I was a racoon I would loooooovve that setup.

 

[Oldmaple]

Any of the outdoor snow melt systems do require you to run it with anti-freeze (unless you run it live all the time). I'd have deer bedded on the drive if I did that. I think the anti-freeze lessens the heat transfer in boilers.

 

[Joesell]

It would definitely be antifreeze in that loop. I just don't know how to insulate it so the heat goes up and let the water go down.

Maybe some pink foam cut loose to let the water pass.

 

[mga]

I walked through the snow the other day on the way to the hot tub and wondered if anyone has ever ran a loop under the deck to melt the snow. I don't want to get crazy and spend a ton.

Anyone think that some pex screwed to the bottom of the deck would throw enough heat to melt snow?

I don't want to run it full time so I think this section would be filled with anti freeze.

Any ideas?

how would you isolate just that section for anti-freeze? you'd probably have to add glycol into the whole system

 

[TonyK]

My neighbor has a loops on all his outdoor walks and in front of his garage that he turns on only when it's snowing. It works and is pretty cool to see even heavy dumps melting away as quickly as it lands.

 

[Marshy]

how would you isolate just that section for anti-freeze? you'd probably have to add glycol into the whole system

It would have to be a closed loop with a dedicated closed loop pump and interact with the rest of the system through a heat exchanger.

If you were heating the hot tub with the boiler you could use the return side of that loop to heat the walk path. I imagine you would have a good delta T. Maybe just have a ball valve for a bypass on the walk path heating so it could be isolated when you just want to heat the hot tub..?

 

[Joesell]

I think this is going to be a project for next summer. If it works, I'll extend the loop to cover the front and side porches too.

 

[hupte]

I think this is going to be a project for next summer. If it works, I'll extend the loop to cover the front and side porches too.

you could attach the water lines to the bottom of the deck then wrap the lines with pipe insulation. that way the insulation would cover 3/4 of the pipe and wrap around and hold tight and the only open side of the pipe would be the top. hence letting all the heat go up and all the water still run thru.

 

[Joesell]

That actually sounds like a great idea