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Waking Up To 2" of Snow on the Heated Driveway - Let's Melt it Away! // Snowmelt Timelapse 1-27-23 

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In this video we awoke to approx 2" of snow on the driveway, so I activated the Heated Driveway Snow Melt System to melt it off at 7 AM. By 4PM the slab was completely dry and the system was shut down at 6 PM.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:55 - Startup
02:21 - Thermal Imaging
06:21 - Time Lapse
09:45 - Stats & Outro
The following items were used in this video:
FLIR One Pro LT iOS Thermal Camera - amzn.to/3WXCNyY
Hikvision DS-2CD2387G2-LUS/SL - amzn.to/3X2dmwp
For a complete list of items I’ve used to build the driveway and several other of my DIY projects, please visit Http://www.cdecker.com
If you enjoy my content, please consider subscribing to my channel by clicking the following link: ru-vid.com/show-UCf6UALBweRXITTshQKo9WNA
If you’re new to my channel and want to follow this project from the beginning (in order, regardless of upload date), check out my Heated Driveway / Snowmelt playlist which can be found here: ru-vid.com/group/PLdWeMRuZcbQjekwiBk_uy39IS6JFWYORD
Below are links to several of the products, tools, video equipment and channels that I used to build the system. I receive a small commission from these links.
Products I used to build the system:
-Takagi T-H3-DV-N Tankless Water Heaters (2): amzn.to/3Fe6nbu
-3" Diversitech Concentric Vent Kits (2): amzn.to/32ja8h2
-Taco 0013-SF3 Circulator Pump Stainless Steel (3): amzn.to/3yVwtOh
-Taco 006-ST4 Recirc Pump (2): amzn.to/3eyy432
-Taco VT2218 Variable Speed ECM Pump (2): amzn.to/3sKVL0f
-100 Plate Flat Plate Heat Exchanger 400,000 BTU's: amzn.to/3pbMlsE
-Enbrighten Z-Wave Plus Smart Light Switch with SimpleWire (2): amzn.to/3sj3p1G
-1 1/2" Epoxy Coated Copper Tube Split Ring Extension Hangers (10): amzn.to/3EalIZm
-1" Epoxy Coated Copper Tube Split Ring Extension Hangers (20): amzn.to/33Kkd7C
-1" Swing Check Valves (5): amzn.to/3pBg8Lo
-10"x8" ABS Plastic Dustproof Waterproof IP65 Junction Box: amzn.to/3FCfbrX
-Waterproof Dustproof IP67 Junction Box Gray 6.9 x 4.9 x 3.9 inch: amzn.to/3pynDmn
-Wayne PC4 1/2 HP Cast Iron Pump for Filling: amzn.to/32L4Xqk
-Ranco ETC-111000 Digital Temperature Controls (5): amzn.to/3HknvNj
-Rubber Washing Machine Fill Hoses, 3/4 inch FHT, 8 Ft: amzn.to/3mGUzXZ
Tools I used to build the system:
-12" Adjustable Wrenches (2): amzn.to/3HhAzTF
-Rectorseal No. 5 Pipe Thread Sealant: amzn.to/3HiR0Px
-Blue Monster 1/2" Blue Teflon Tape: amzn.to/3JnhqBF
-High Intensity Trigger Start Mapp Gas Torch Head: amzn.to/3z6l0LE
-14.1 oz Bernzomatic Pre-Filled MAP-Pro Gas Torch Style Cylinders (2): amzn.to/3EEA1FM
-Oatey 29025 Safe-Flo Wire Solder, 1 Lb Bulk, Solid, Gray, Silver: amzn.to/3z6PWLI
-9'' x 12'' Welding Pad Protector, Carbon Felt Torch Soldering Heat Shield, High Temp Flame--Resistant Fabric, Plumbers Pad: amzn.to/3Hk9y22
What I use to record my videos and time lapse videos:
-GoPro Hero 8: amzn.to/3qu6ppC
-Joby JB01507 GorillaPod 3K Kit : amzn.to/3pClzde
-SanDisk 256GB Extreme microSDXC Memory Card: amzn.to/3zdZJjd
The playlist will have all of my videos in the correct order form start to present, regardless of the date I uploaded them. It starts with how I designed the PEX and Snowmelt Loop Layout, shows the process of installing the actual heated concrete slab, demonstrates how I did the math to calculate the boiler and pump sizes, installation of all of the components, and ends with lots of time-lapse of the system melting snow. It also includes snowmelt system startup and shutdown videos, as well as walkthroughs of the mechanical room, continuous circulation design and electrical system.
I will be uploading more videos of the system in action each winter, as well as several videos of the installation process, including soldering, filling with glycol, venting, etc. If there is something in particular you would like to see, please ask, and I will make a video of it.
Music Credit:
A Himitsu - Icy Vindur
Icy Vindur by Himitsu ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w2Y2P4ksQK8.html
#heateddriveway #snowmelt #buffalo

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Опубликовано:

 

4 фев 2023

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Комментарии : 47   
@rickbullock4331
@rickbullock4331 Год назад
Excellent! For some reason I enjoyed watching snow melt on your driveway. I need a life.😳🤔😬😢👍👍🇨🇦
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Rick!! I’m glad you’re here and I really appreciate you watching and commenting!!
@rongeremy5370
@rongeremy5370 Год назад
Where I live, I wished I had a driveway that made snow 🤣.
@kangaroogod
@kangaroogod Год назад
Never gets old! Thermal vid 👍
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks man! 😊
@markemerson8399
@markemerson8399 Год назад
It looks so great when it's all done!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Mark!
@markemerson8399
@markemerson8399 Год назад
Love watching the snowmelt!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Mark!
@markemerson8399
@markemerson8399 Год назад
Haha, envy of the neighborhood!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
😉
@mwblank
@mwblank Год назад
I was wondering have you ever considered power washing the driveway really good getting it super clean and sealing it. It seems like this would allow it to even work more efficiently, as the concrete would be a little bit more nonstick, and the water couldn’t seep down and actually wet the concrete. I’d like to see you do this, and see how it changes the performance of everything, which I would believe to be better. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, and showing us about the system as you do, and educating us, it’s quite fascinating!!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey Michael! I’ve absolutely thought about this, and it will definitely be done this spring. I should’ve done it 2 years ago. I was told it should be cleaned and re sealed every other year. I was actually planning on doing it annually instead, but life got in the way and here we are coming to year 4. Another thing I’ve noticed this winter is “crazing” on the surface of the driveway, and I believe it’s a result of the lack of sealing, but I could be wrong. When I pressure wash and seal it, I will absolutely make a video of it, even if I hire it done. Thanks for watching my videos and taking the time to leave compliments and suggestions, I really appreciate it!
@MrWipex
@MrWipex Год назад
Thanks for another great video. 👌 The flir shots were great! I do that myself a lot too. When there is glycol in the secondary side, and its been standing still like that, I would carefully check the temp of the primary return pipe. 😅 great stuff !! Keep it up ! 👏👏👏
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thank you sir! I appreciate your compliments as always 😊. Maybe during the next startup I’ll setup the second GoPro on the heat exchanger gauges so you can watch exactly how low (and high) temperatures get. Others might enjoy that too!
@electrofelon
@electrofelon Год назад
I wonder if adding a heat pump would improve efficiency, of course it depends on your natural gas prices but it would be worth looking into in my opinion. It would be very easy to integrate with your existing system. Especially if you pair it with solar.
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks for the suggestion Connor! I have been looking into heat pump water heaters to maybe replace the buffer tank for the domestic. I don’t think there would be a way to incorporate one into the secondary side without a major re design. I’m also researching heat pump dryers and hybrid furnaces. I probably won’t replace perfectly good appliances like my furnace until it fails, but I might add a heat pump dryer along side the natural gas one. We have the room. The Solar Panels will be installed soon! There were actually going to come next week but the forecast changed. Oh well, we’re still close! Thanks for watching!
@i0606
@i0606 Год назад
Love the new camera video quality, but is there any way the camera could be angled up slightly from where it is? I personally liked being able to see the full span of the driveway (and to some extent the time lapse of cars going down the street and such). If not no worries, thank you for the videos
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks for the feedback i0. While the new Hikvision camera is great (4MP, 8K, IP Based, Heated, Etc) it does have a smaller Field of View than the GoPros I was using before. I do currently have it angled down a bit to see more of the slab melting in front of the garage, but I might be able to bump it up a bit tomorrow to catch a bit of the road. You’re not the only person to mention this, so maybe I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion and for taking the time to watch and comment, I really do appreciate it!
@paulbernard3187
@paulbernard3187 Год назад
It would nice to see a flir aimed at the driveway to show the relative temp dif between the slab before and during operation
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hi Paul! Here is one I did a while back: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--4gOLuY8pFE.html I can do another in the future, thanks for the suggestion!
@paulbernard3187
@paulbernard3187 Год назад
@@DeckerChristopherJ thanks
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Than you for watching Paul!
@gilsterk
@gilsterk Год назад
Love the flir!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Gil! 😊
@derekl.9244
@derekl.9244 Год назад
Hey Chris, I watched your design videos and am quite impressed - as someone living in the same snowbelt as you, I'm curious what reasons you chose concrete over asphalt? I feel like most articles I read for the northeast talk about the salt impact on concrete vs asphalt due to the higher porosity. I'm in the brainstorming stage of something like this for our house and I'm wondering if you had any insight into what you've done to mitigate the risk (from tracked salt on tires), or are there better heat transfer properties that should be considered, or is it just an aesthetic preference? I'm also curious, should there be a failure in the circuits under the driveway, could they be individually maintenanced? Great videos, you are an inspiration!
@cpe1704tks.
@cpe1704tks. Год назад
He talks about it here. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s83tnGQKAto.html
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey Derek! First, I owe you an apology. I think you asked a similar question on a different video of mine and I never got a chance to respond. Thanks for your compliments and for being a subscriber, I really appreciate it! So regarding the choice of concrete over asphalt, it wasn't until I really started researching snowmelt systems that I learned it was even possible to put snowmelt under asphalt. We had an asphalt driveway before this project, and I guess we had always planned on replacing it with concrete for aesthetic reasons. Both obviously need to be sealed for longevity, but I guess we always found concrete to be "cleaner." We noticed the flooring in our old entryway had actually "yellowed" from the years of tracking in the oils from the asphalt. I was told that if you keep the concrete sealed, the tracked salt from tires wouldn't harm it. I have failed with that, as this is now coming up on my 4th year and I haven't re-sealed since the pour in 2019, and I believe that is why I am now seeing some "crazing" cracks on the slab. It will be done this spring without question! I do think concrete holds its heat more than asphalt, which is why its popular for radiant and snowmelt systems. Regarding failure in the driveway, in the highly unlikely event that did happen, I could always isolate those loops on the manifold. There are 13 loops in the driveway, so loosing 1, 2 or even 3 probably wouldn't make the system ineffective, I would probably just need to increase the temperature of the others to compensate. I have close friends that old some old carwashes with floor heat, and back in the 50's, 60's and 70's they used copper tubing in the slabs and they are still operational today. Compared to copper, PEX is much more flex and break tolerant. Hopefully that answers your question, if not let me know and I'll try to provide more detail. Thanks again for watching!
@derekl.9244
@derekl.9244 Год назад
​ @Chris Decker Thanks! I wasn't sure if RU-vid had actually posted my previous comment, sorry for the redundancy. We have asphalt currently for about 90'x16' with a 14'x30' turnout that should probably be resurfaced or replaced in the next few years. We'll see if I can convince the finance committee considering there's also a rear patio project to replace a wood deck I'm toying with the idea of pavers/hardscape which is where I think I'd really see the benefit of a system like this. Our dogs go in and out and we get some ice buildup when the weather warms up enough to melt some but not all the snow.
@cpe1704tks.
@cpe1704tks. Год назад
Great video, I love this stuff. I know the whole point of having a system like this is to NOT shovel snow, I get it. However, I have to wonder, if you did shovel the 2 inches of accumulated snow away before turning on the system, how much do you think your gas bill would have been reduced by - 20%, 50%, 65% ?
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Glenn, and great question! So I’ve found after years of operation that the majority of cost comes in the first 2-3 hours as the driveway comes up to temperature. After that, it gets cheaper per hour to operate for every additional hour that it’s running. It’s like the MPG in your car. From a dead stop, you’ll get horrible mileage accelerating to 65, but once your there and the cruise is set, your MPG’s just keep going up and up. While shoveling the snow off first would shorten the overall run time since the slab would be able to dry quicker and the system could be shut down earlier, that time would come off the back end, not the front. The system would still need to run for those initial 2-3 hours where gas usage is the most. Once my system is up to temp and has been running for several hours, it usually levels out around $1.00 per hour to operate with current gas prices (this was closer to $.50 per hour in ‘21, see this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VotJEQigTkw.html ). So to answer your question, I’m not sure exactly how much gas would saved, but I would guess shoveling it might save 2-3 hours off the back end, so maybe $3-$4? For me the $3-$4 is not worth my time, the risk of slipping, hurting my back, etc. Hopefully that answers your question, if not let me know! Thanks for asking it and thanks for watching!
@cpe1704tks.
@cpe1704tks. Год назад
@@DeckerChristopherJ It certainly does answer my question. Everyone reading this appreciates your expert and detailed reply. Turn it on, save your back and your sanity, and enjoy your day. All for a few dollars. Salt not eating the concrete, being walked into the house and no heaving of the slabs. Sold !
@timothysroot82
@timothysroot82 Год назад
I'm sure you've answered this in a previous video, but is the garage floor slab heated as well? Thinking of the snow melting off of your cars once you back them in
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey Tim! Yep, the garage floor is heated too. That was actually the first slab I installed the pex in back in 2010 when I built the garage. I didn’t have a boiler, so it sat under air pressure for 10 years until I built and installed the current system. The garage also has hanging Reznor unit heaters. I discuss it further and show pictures in this video if you’re interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0eVSJDShuts.html Thanks for the question and for watching!
@deh6439
@deh6439 Год назад
How do you calculate the total cost $12.42 of the event? Here in Toronto, the Enbridge charges multiple fees on top of the natural gas price/per cubic meter, makes the actual price triple the list price.
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hi de h! This video shows how I calculate the cost of each event: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VotJEQigTkw.html Prices have increased quite a bit since the video, but it shows how I do it. I basically have a spreadsheet that calculates everything, including all of the fees, exactly like my gas bill does. I’ve been asked this a lot recently so I might do an updated video at the end of this season. Hope this helps! Thanks for watching!
@FelixRusu
@FelixRusu Год назад
Is the concrete just a few years old? It looks like it has some surface cracks already, wondering if that's from normal wear or from the snowmelt system shocking the concrete when it's turned on a frozen driveway?
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey Felix! The concrete was installed in 2019, and the “crazing” just started these past couple of months. The new 4K 8MP camera really highlights it in the videos now. What’s weird is that it’s also occurring on the apron and other non heated areas, and the area in front of the steps to the deck where all of the loops tune into the basement gets the hottest, yet doesn’t have any. I think it could be more related to the fact that I haven’t sealed it in 3+ years, but I could be wrong. Time will tell! Thanks for watching!
@FelixRusu
@FelixRusu Год назад
@@DeckerChristopherJ thanks for the details, i can also see some actual cracks on the right side. What psi did they pour? i have a 20 year old concrete driveway (no snowmelt) and there is no crazing or cracks. I never sealed it in the last 11yrs i owned it. My concern is whether a snowmelt system can degrade the concrete faster than snow/ice (heat acting as catalyst in residual salt from cars reacting with concrete?)
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
The crack you see on the right occurred about a year after it was poured, which was about a year before I built the heating system and first turned it on. You make excellent points, and I’ve wondered the same thing Felix. I’ve also witnessed both heated and non-heated slabs that are 20+ years old, and I haven’t noticed any crazing. I’ve read that it typically occurs right after pouring, but mine just showed up this winter. I did read they are primarily cosmetic and not structural, but we share the same concerns. The fact that it’s occurring on non-heated areas tells me it’s probably related to the pour or substrate, but I’m not a concrete expert. I may trying asking on some forums to get a professional opinion.
@suemccann2010
@suemccann2010 Год назад
You're videos are awesome to watch,what you have is amazing,just so so cool. I had no idea after reading Felix's comment that you're supposed to seal concrete,I have a concrete jungle and it's cracking thin cracks and now I'm actually seeing the gravel....oops guess I need to call someone.
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Thanks Sue, I really appreciate your comment. I actually meant to re seal the slab every year, then it turned into every other, and now we’re coming up on year 4 🤦🏻‍♂️. I will absolutely do it this year, even if I must hire it done because I can’t find the time. Seeing these hairline “crazing” cracks was an eye opener. Thanks for watching!!
@underdog2594
@underdog2594 Год назад
If you are gone during the day, does the system continue to operate at full capacity? Or, does it throttle back once the snow melts? Thanks!
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey Underdog! The system remains fully operational whether we are here or not. The Aquatstats will turn the heaters off / on as heat is needed, and the system remains fully operational until I turn it off manually, either by the switch in the basement or from my phone.
@underdog2594
@underdog2594 Год назад
@@DeckerChristopherJ Great solution with you phone and cameras. I'm guessing you can check in to see live video? Nice system.
@Phantom76938
@Phantom76938 Год назад
What’s the name of the automation system?
@DeckerChristopherJ
@DeckerChristopherJ Год назад
Hey FJ! The company I am most familiar with is Tekmar. I actually installed their 091 socket in the slab when we poured it and ran the conduit back to the utility room so I could add the 090 sensor and 654 control later. The socket was only $100 at the time amzn.to/3YqAghM but the 090 sensor amzn.to/3Y5y0wS and 654 control amzn.to/3Y8g3O8 are much more expensive, and I haven’t brought myself to spend $1,000 on it all yet. Maybe at some point in the future, but it’s been working well for me doing it manually. Hope that answers your question, thanks for watching!