Are Snow Melt Systems Right for Your Home?

When snow falls in Broken Arrow, it means you have to get out your shovel to clear off your driveway and other outdoor areas. While shoveling snow is good exercise, it’s also exhausting and even dangerous for some individuals. With snow melt systems, you don’t have to worry about clearing your driveway to make it safer for your loved ones and your car.

How Snow Melt Systems Work

These systems provide a convenient way to keep driveways, patios, and other outdoor areas free of snow and ice by serving as an outdoor heating system. Some systems use electricity to accomplish this, while others use a combination of hot water and antifreeze circulating through a series of tubes and pipes. Snow melt systems sometimes have manual controls that homeowners can turn on and off when needed. Other systems have sensors installed to detect the presence of snow on the surface. When there is enough snow, these systems turn on automatically.

Benefits of a Snow Melt System

A snow melt system offers convenience for you as a homeowner. With one of these systems installed, you won’t need to spend time shoveling snow from your driveway. This is highly beneficial if you have health conditions that make it difficult or dangerous for you to shovel snow. These systems also help keep your driveway safer to drive or walk on by clearing away snow and ice. This helps lower the risk of personal injuries from falling and damage to your car if you slide.

HVAC and Energy Bills

Your snow melt system doesn’t use the same source of heat as your HVAC system, but it can be integrated with it. Keep in mind that running a snow melt system leads to increased energy usage. You can make up for this by lowering your home’s heating bills through routine HVAC maintenance for improved energy efficiency and replacing air filters regularly.If you need more information on snow melt systems, please contact Air Assurance. Keep in mind that our company can also provide your Broken Arrow home with HVAC maintenance and other services this winter.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.

Let's Debunk Common Geothermal Heating & Cooling Myths

Geothermal heating and cooling is generating substantial interest as more homeowners adopt the ultimate in low-cost and environmentally friendly indoor comfort. Just six feet beneath the earth's surface, temperatures average about 55 degrees. This convenient geological fact, combined with efficient heat pump technology, turns the earth itself into an available energy source for geothermal heating and cooling.

Misunderstandings and myths surround some of the basics of geothermal heating and cooling, however. Here are a few you may hear—plus the actual facts of the matter.

Geothermal Consumes Electricity

The nominal electricity consumed by a geothermal system is utilized only to power the heat pump compressor, circulation pumps and blower. Heat produced by a geothermal system is extracted from the earth by a ground heat exchanger consisting of buried tubes that continuously circulate a heat-absorbing solution. In summer, the system reverses and extracts heat from the home, dispersing it back into the earth through the ground heat exchanger.

Geothermal Requires Lots of Space

In a horizontal installation, tubing can be arranged in loops and “slinky” type configuration to reduce the required square footage. Moreover, heat exchange tubing can also be installed vertically, in a deep bore drilled into the ground. Vertical installations can be adapted to almost any size lot.

Underground Components Degrade

High-density polyethylene tubing utilized for the ground heat exchanger is typically guaranteed for 50 years or more. Because they are not exposed to weather extremes, buried components typically incur less wear and tear than surface components of a conventional A/C system.

Geothermal Heat Pumps Make Noise

All above-ground components of a geothermal system are installed indoors. Because heat is absorbed and dispersed by the buried heat exchanger, there are no noisy coil fans running.

Solar Panels and Wind Generators Are More Efficient

For every unit of energy consumed, a geothermal system returns four units of heating or cooling. Reduction in power demand of a geothermal system is equal to or up to four times greater than solar or wind.

Ask the professionals at Air Assurance for more facts about the advantages of geothermal heating and cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “shanesabin/Shutterstock”