Ask the Architect

Can I heat my driveway?

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Q. After shoveling so much snow, I’ve been wondering more about whether it would pay to heat my driveway. Can you tell me if it makes more sense to use electric heat or water in pipes? Doesn’t the water freeze, or is it drained back into a holding tank or something?

A. I’ve wondered about this for years, ever since a performance hall did it back when I was in college. We left at the end of a show and found the pavement fairly clear of snow in the middle of a snowstorm.

A friend told me they pay $150 for snow removal because they can’t shovel anymore. Add that up over 20 snowstorms, and it starts to make sense to heat your driveway — but unless you get all those snowstorms, you won’t be breaking even. True, your property gains value to a buyer who envisions relaxing during a snowfall, but how many years will it be before you sell?

First, you embed cable mats or piping into fresh concrete pavement, meaning you’ll need to remove and replace your existing driveway. Paver stone driveways can also be used, but because water seeps into the joints, it can be problematic with trapped water. The piping systems use an antifreeze glycol system, so freezing isn’t a problem. The plumbing system must have a separate heating unit, natural gas-fed, which makes it necessary to have adequate space for a wall-mounted, tankless gas unit near the driveway, sometimes in a garage or adjacent room. Electric systems connect into either a wall-mounted subpanel or the main panel on its own circuit.

There are two system types for electric, including a mat you can lay out, which isn’t recommended, because you have to pick it up and move it around. Electric radiant heat systems are probably a better option, costwise, because they come partially assembled in mat form and install more quickly, don’t need as much equipment to operate and, since they only run when it’s snowing, don’t rack up continuous bills. Couple that with the eventual connection directly to solar panels, and the system runs itself cheaper from the sun source energy. The plumbed system has to be circulated at intervals to keep it maintained.

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