I just came up with a crazy idea. Could I build a driveway with pipes running through it that connect to the top of my sewer pipe? The idea would be that the warm air from the sewer would keep the driveway above freezing. I don't think anything from the sewer would get up into the driveway system just sewer air. What do you think?
I will add that I understand I would have to clear snow but days after a snowstorm I should have a completely clean driveway. Just a passively dried off driveway method.
sewer gas is explosive, might be a bad idea.
Clearly never seen national lampoons christmas vacation
Extra heating
what if you got a pump and a boiler to heat the liquid sewage and pump it around your driveway theres not much gas in a sewer you would have to use forced air to pressurizing the entire sewer system which would make every pipe trap in the neighborhood boil with sewer gas
>Could I build a driveway with pipes running through it that connect to the top of my sewer pipe?
No. Just no.
Why?
No city would allow you to connect to the sewer system like this.
The sewer isn't pressurized, there's no way to get even circulation.
Sewer gas is potentially explosive.
During storms or floods your pipe system would flood with sewage.
If this worked the streets wouldn't ice over because the sewers would keep them warm. However the streets DO ice over. Meaning that there's not enough heat to warm up the concrete above and then melt the ice/snow.
moron, if you're going to add a boiler you could just run radiant snowmelt tubing under the driveway and use the boiler to heat it.
Driveway snowmelt requires either a boiler system with radiant tubes under the driveway or an electric heater mat under the driveway.
>Driveway snowmelt requires
or mildly conducive concrete.
>conducive concrete
neat
Do you have a recipe?
I think it is magnetite iron shavings and steel wire, I think polymer rods instead of rebar, but what do i know.
>meme concrete costs triple
>can electrocute you
>somehow this is better than an electrical mat under regular concrete
>calling others moron
>not getting an obvious joke
just run generator exhaust through the sewer pipes
i happen to have this diagram from a previous thread
the ymca by my house ran the pool filter lines next to the municipal sewer lines.
the sewer is kept deep enough to avoid freezing by trapping heat keep inside.
driveway heat is kept shallow enough to encourage melting by venting heat out.
if you want to melt your driveway, get a driveway heater.
>Could I build a driveway with pipes running through it that connect to the top of my sewer pipe?
No because as soon as you're spotted fricking with the sewers your city would fine you into oblivion and take possession of your property.
Consider his plan:
>rent excavator
>dig up driveway
>purchase large sewer pipes and put them in place
>discreetly tie the pipes into existing sewer lines without being noticed since no permit
>pay concrete company to pour new driveway over your sewer pipes
>enjoy "free" sewer heat until the driveway collapses when your pipes cave in because there wasn't enough room for rebar
>driveway then floods with sewage and freezes over creating a ice skating rink of shit
>city notices all the construction you've done and sues you for damages to the sewer and missed permit and inspection fees.
Your idea would work but it invites obvious trouble if something goes wrong, bury the appropriate ptc cable in the drive and it'll regulate itself when needed chemically without a thermostat.
Just tape carpet to your shoes and go out and heat the driveway by friction before a snowstorm
how about just using geothermal heating? it's the same concept of why the sewer doesn't freeze over
you just have to dig deep enough
Better thing to do is just leave a layer of snow on the driveway, like set your snowblower height up a few inches. That way it doesn't turn into sheer ice and provides traction without having to sand it.
how I can tell you don't live in the north
driving over compacted snow turns it into a layer of shit that's just as slick as ice, especially after you get a single sunny day
Their mention of using sand is kind of a giveaway, too.
i think the air in the driveway would cool down before it gets an opportunity to melt anything.
Uh probably cheaper to just get a tractor, snow blower if your driveway is small, or a snow shovel if you’re poor.
You can just encapsulate electric in-floor heat under a skim coat on top of your driveway
No way in hell your city would give this the go-ahead.
just drill a really really deep hole and then vent the geothermal heat into your driveway
This already exists, at least inside the home you can recover the heat from drain pipes.
It would be way too costly to do this for a driveway, and wouldn't recover enough heat.
pic related
Insufficient faucet volume to preheat unless running continuously.
Like a shower or bath?
That's not nearly enough. If you poured a concrete slab with in-floor heating that might work but would weaken the slab. So would water channels which if they burst and froze could crack the slab.
You can move to warmer climes like I did. I enjoy snow for few seconds then I click on something else.
Just shovel like a normal person you frickin' bum.
This
OP is trying to get out of doing his chores
Attach a hose to a faucet or shower head and use it to melt the snow. Yeah it costs a few dozen gallons of hot water but it's not like it snows every day.
If you have a home server you could run pipes that take the heat from your server room out to the driveway