Heated Driveway News

Keeping Customers Happy Each Season is Simple

Keeping your customers happy is usually in the top five priorities (and if you are smart, it’s most likely number one) when running a business. Without them your business is sunk. If you operate your business in a harsh winter climate and customers have a need to visit your location regularly, installing heated driveways and walk-ways is a sure fire way to keep them coming back for more.

Businesses like banks, fast food restaurants or car washes all have drive-through areas or driving bays that would benefit from a radiant snowmelt system. Installing a heated driveway system reduces the manual labor required to keep precious business arteries open and clear for customers. Snowmelt systems also cut down on the need for salt or other harsh chemicals, which is especially critical for a car wash. Customers visiting a car wash in the winter months are looking to rid their vehicle of those products and would certainly appreciate not picking up more while patronizing your car wash bays.

Using a radiant snowmelt system is not limited to those aforementioned businesses. Snow melting systems are an added benefit to any walkway, as they are easily installed under sidewalks and driveways. Using the technology of electric or radiant heat increases the comfort and safety of your property – and makes you much less vulnerable to potential liability issues. A snow melting system will insure your walkways and driveways are always clear of snow and ice and ready to be used by each and every one of your valuable customers.

Choosing Eco-friendly Snow and Ice Removal

Now that Earth Day has come and gone, many of us are resolved to find new, meaningful ways to contribute to our environment, including driveway heating . Not only do radiant heated driveways take the shovel, and the responsibility of snow removal out of your hands; they are darn good for the environment.

Electric heated driveways are unobtrusive snow removal systems and virtually maintenance free. Embedded within concrete, asphalt, or placed beneath paver stones, radiant heated cables comprising these systems are activated by a snow sensor when conditions warrant, providing a clean, silent, efficient, eco-friendly alternative to traditional snow and ice removal methods.

Unlike driveway heating, using harsh snowmelt chemicals can really take a toll on your driveway and the surrounding landscape, killing grass and other foliage. Salt and chemicals also tend to find their way into unsuspecting dog paws, and greedily gnaw through our leather boots and shoes. With the spring thaw, most of these chemicals also make their way into our groundwater system, contaminating our drinking supply.

Snow blowers are just as destructive. They scrape asphalt, tear up yards and spew smoke from incredibly loud gasoline-powered engines. Unlike eco-friendly electric heated driveways, which draw on a renewable energy source, these fossil fuel burning machines emit harmful pollutants into the atmosphere as you work. They also make enough noise to wake the dead, as I’ve discovered with my neighbor, who is both a proud snow blower owner and early riser!

While more traditional methods of snow removal can damage your driveway, your yard, and the environment, installing an electric heated driveway will boost your property value without destroying your investment. Yet the biggest incentive (for me, at least) is the time and effort I’ll save with a fully automated snow removal system. I’d rather start my day relaxing with a nice cup of joe, watching the snow fall while my neighbors are outside pushing snow around!

When it comes down to choosing the right snow removal solution, you might not associate environmentalism with a radiant heated driveway. But considering just how *cost and energy efficient heated driveways are, living a greener life has never been easier.

*The cost for a 500-square-foot heated driveway to operate continuously for 5 hours is approximately $7.50.

What if NASA Could Install Heated Driveways/Runways?

Last week the space shuttle, Discovery, returned to earth after a 13-day mission. Following a few minor weather delays, the cloudy skies in Cape Canaveral, Florida, finally allowed the Discovery crew to touch down at the Kennedy Space Center. The amazing ability to travel through space got me thinking how thrilling it would be to see a space shuttle lift off with all its turbo boosters spewing thick clouds of smoke. Sadly, I do not dwell in any state near Florida, so my chances are slim of this becoming a reality, unless I travel across the country. It made me start to wonder; “What if NASA could install a snow melting system on runways and launch pads across the country?”

Think about the joy and marvel youngsters would experience if their home state was able to host a shuttle landing. Even winter-locked states could theoretically brag about the upcoming landing of the future shuttle, North Pole. Electric radiant heat systems used to heat our driveways to keep them clear of snow seems like a great solution for a NASA approved shuttle landings.

Admittedly, my imagination may be getting the best of me. Weather is just one of the millions of considerations, I’m quite sure, when launching a rocket into space. But for today, it is fun to imagine a giant heated “driveway” at a NASA facility somewhere near the Rocky Mountains, housing the next shuttle ready to fly and ready to land on the world's largest snow melting system. Hey, if we can put a man on the moon, who’s to say that one day my dream of witnessing a launch from my cold climate can’t come true. Technology brought us space travel and it brought us electric radiant heat. Maybe one day they will unite somewhere other than in my overactive imagination.