Sidewalks

MB4CY

Member
Aug 29, 2009
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Norwalk, IA
You probably don't need to heat a sidewalk up to room temperature to keep the snow and ice off it, so maybe it's not as big a power drain as it sounds like.

There's a gated community out in Vail, Co that supposedly has a heated access road up the mountain for people to get to their mansions. I don't know how much power a heated sidewalk would use, but a road might really run up a power bill.

Those ads don't say a heated sidewalk exists, just that so and so voted for them. So they may be accurate, but like most political ads they're a half-truth. Another reason I can't wait for the elections to be over. TV lately has been almost unwatchable.
 

CyPlainsDrifter

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Jun 19, 2006
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I know someone who installed a heated driveway and it was cost prohibitive to use afterwards ...... and it was cost prohibitive by a LOT.
 

weR138

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2008
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Sounds awesome. I've always wanted to walk around barefoot outside during the winter.

Anyone who wants to walk on a heated sidewalk need look no further than the Mid-American Building in Sioux City. The whole south sidewalk is heated.
 

vmbplayer

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Feb 6, 2008
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Ankeny
Does anyone know if they have these at the entrance of Gerdin? The snow never accumulates on the stone that makes up the side walk toward the entrance. Is that a heated sidewalk, or is that just the heat transferring from the stone inside?
 

MNCyGuy

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2009
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Des Moines
Does anyone know if they have these at the entrance of Gerdin? The snow never accumulates on the stone that makes up the side walk toward the entrance. Is that a heated sidewalk, or is that just the heat transferring from the stone inside?

Could be. I know a lot of hospitals and such have them at the entrances.
 

MNCYWX

Well-Known Member
Feb 7, 2010
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I've always been anti-sidewalk. I mean, they're in between the road and buildings, so they're more in the middle, not to the side. And last time I tried to walk on one, I got run over by joggers and bikers. I mean, what's the deal?

And why do we park in the driveway and drive in the parkway?
 

CyGal

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Mar 1, 2006
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I wouldn't have such a problem with Iowa winters if the snow would just learn to fall on the grassy areas only and stay off the sidewalks, parking lots and roads. And a nice little path through my yard so my dogs can go to the bathroom would be nice too.
 
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cyrocksmypants

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Dec 29, 2008
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Washington DC
I'm just a journalism graduate, so this line of thinking is well beyond my means, but wouldn't you just have to heat it warmer than the temp of freezing to have it work? Maybe a little more to account for other various factors, but if freezing is 32 degrees (or something along there) if you heated it to about 45-50 degrees, wouldn't you think that would be warm enough?

You probably don't need to heat a sidewalk up to room temperature to keep the snow and ice off it, so maybe it's not as big a power drain as it sounds like.

There's a gated community out in Vail, Co that supposedly has a heated access road up the mountain for people to get to their mansions. I don't know how much power a heated sidewalk would use, but a road might really run up a power bill.

Those ads don't say a heated sidewalk exists, just that so and so voted for them. So they may be accurate, but like most political ads they're a half-truth. Another reason I can't wait for the elections to be over. TV lately has been almost unwatchable.
 

Gorm

With any luck we will be there by Tuesday.
Jul 6, 2010
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Cedar Rapids, IA
We have someone with a heated driveway and it seems to work well. It has a snow sensor of some sort so that it only comes on when there is freezing precipitation going on. It then shoots recirculating hot water out into the bowls of the driveway. Seems to be fairly energy efficient to me.
 

Cydkar

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Apr 12, 2006
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I'm just a journalism graduate, so this line of thinking is well beyond my means, but wouldn't you just have to heat it warmer than the temp of freezing to have it work? Maybe a little more to account for other various factors, but if freezing is 32 degrees (or something along there) if you heated it to about 45-50 degrees, wouldn't you think that would be warm enough?

You have to heat it to 110 F. Go back to writin'. :)
 

MisterTwister

Member
Feb 8, 2009
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Ankeny
The town where these were going into was part of a study on Green Cities. They expressed interest in this because the town is located next to two very popular trout fishing streams in Iowa and they saw a lot of tourism form them. They wanted to look at a way to reduce salt runoff during the spring melt which could produce massive fish kill in the streams.

The sidewalks would have been heated by geothermal energy, so the energy use, in conventional means, would have been non existent. The city would also save money on snow removal with the costs that are associated with it.

Sounds like a great idea in theory.
 

MNCyGuy

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2009
11,644
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Des Moines
The town where these were going into was part of a study on Green Cities. They expressed interest in this because the town is located next to two very popular trout fishing streams in Iowa and they saw a lot of tourism form them. They wanted to look at a way to reduce salt runoff during the spring melt which could produce massive fish kill in the streams.

The sidewalks would have been heated by geothermal energy, so the energy use, in conventional means, would have been non existent. The city would also save money on snow removal with the costs that are associated with it.

Sounds like a great idea in theory.

I love the part where it does nothing to create jobs, on account of all the work was done by robots apparently.
 

drmwevr08

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2006
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Arizona
In places where they use steam tunnels to circulate heat on a campus the ancilary benefit is patches of sidewalk that are in close proximity are generally clear. If you are utilizing such a system anyway I would think it would be great to design th connections with the pedestrian connections in mind. Once the object becomes solely to heat sidewalks I have my doubts.


Also, heated car seats are crazy? You either have not had them or your *** is too big to get cold. :spinny:
 

weR138

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2008
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I love the part where it does nothing to create jobs, on account of all the work was done by robots apparently.

Someone has to dig the geothermal wells and do the concrete work...