I’m not sure of the right google terms to find what I’m looking for, so here’s hoping someone around here can help.
I’m looking for prices on snow removal machines that use heat to melt the snow. I know such things exist - Papahomie said he’s seen the maintenance guys at a local hospital using them. Basically they’re self-contained units that carry a heat source in a backpack, while the user points the heat output at the ground, clearing snow from the sidewalk without having to shovel.
I’ve tried all manner of searches using terms like “snow removal equipment heat” or “industrial snow removal equipment” and similar terms, and all I’m getting is links to trucks and tractors.
I’ve quite skeptical that these things are anywhere near as effective as simply putting shovel to snow. It takes a lot of heat to melt snow and ice and it seems like you’d be standing there a lot longer than if you just scooped it up.
We had a weed burner (propane torch) growing up. I tried a few time to use it on snow and ice, it never worked like I thought it would. It just takes way to much energy to melt snow.
That’s kind of what I always figured. I’ve used blow torches to melt ice off of cooling coils in freezers and never works very well. It always seems to take waaay longer then you’d think it would take for fire to melt ice.
Yeah, I have used a propane burner to get rid of weeds in cracks in concrete and asphalt. I suspect using them on snow and ice is a not-so-bright idea somebody had.
Be aware, that those propane torches don’t last all that long usually, no matter how well maintained. A roofer friend of mine shrugs and buys a new one every time he does a rubber roof simply because they burn themselves out fast.
Seems like it would take a long time and you’d be left with slick ice that you would have to put chemicals on (don’t know how safe those are after runoff)… not sure melting is the most efficient way to remove snow…
I’m guessing that any bit of snow/ice that’s small enough to be melted quickly with a device like this would go even faster/easier with salt or the newfangled non-salty ice melt stuff.