How to best melt a bunch of snow using metal and heat?

[Darwinspet]

TL;DR Summary

I tried an iron to melt the snow and it worked until I think the plate got cold (or the snow got packed from pressing down). I'm wondering if I should be looking for something that stays hot, or focus on another approach

Hi everyone,

So I have a bunch of snow that I am trying to find the fastest way to melt (and get rid of the water).

I tried using a clothes iron and it seemed to work at first until the depth got too much (it worked well until perhaps about 2 inches of depth). I think the iron's plate got too cold from contact with the snow and then I had to remove it from the snow so it could get hot again and melt more snow. Perhaps also the downward pressure caused the snow to pack, making it even harder to melt?

I think the iron's plate is aluminum or steel. Would changing the plate to a more conductive material like copper help? What if I soldered on copper rods to penetrate deeper into the snow? Or what if I soldered on "walls" to the iron's plate, and made it into some kind of box to isolate it from the surrounding snow? Would that help melt the snow more?

I'm not really concerned about electricity price, but don't want to go make something out of diamonds even if that's better at conducting heat. I'm really just looking to see if it's possible for me to melt a bunch of snow using really hot metal. Obviously I could eventually melt it all with a clothes iron, but that would take way too long based on my recent experiment.

And as for why I'm doing this... uhh, I guess I just tried melting it with my clothes iron after seeing a friend's hot steel rod melt a bunch of snow and I wondered if I could melt even more snow, like a lot more lol.

Do you have any suggestions on approaches to melting deep snow even faster?

Thank you

 

[Nugatory]

Do you have any suggestions on approaches to melting deep snow even faster?

Set your goal first. How much snow do you want to melt, how quickly?
It takes about 334 Joules to melt one gram of snow. Voltage times amperage equals Joules per second, so you can calculate the amount of electricity you’ll need to get the job done (or equivalently, what’s the best you can do given the capabilities electrical outlet you’re going to plug into).

 

[Baluncore]

Welcome to PF.

So I have a bunch of snow that I am trying to find the fastest way to melt (and get rid of the water).

Why melt it when you can shovel it, or throw it away with a snow blower?

 

[BillTre]

The amount of heat a piece of metal could hold for you melting project. it may take reheating the metal or a bigger piece of metal to accomplish your goal.

Alternatively providing something continuously making heat source would not get depleted. This might present safety issues if electricity is involved (like plugging in an iron and putting on the snow.

However a blowing warm air (perhaps from your heated house) could provide a slower way to melt the snow. Construction crews can have blowers blowing air through 6-12" diameter plastic sheet tubes. The blowers are probably expensive.

Some people have under cement heating cables (like under the floor heating in some houses) installed under their driveways/sidewalks. Not likely a quick fix for you I think.

Of course there is salt, but that can have disadvantages due to spreading around chemicals.

 

[DaveC426913]

and get rid of the water).

What are your options for disposal of the water? Street drain?

Seems to me, you might want to start there at the end and work your way back. (Because transporting of the water may give you a idea on how to break up the snow)

 

[Baluncore]

To melt the snow, and "get rid of the water", is a double problem.

Maybe cover the snow with a bell jar, or put it in a vacuum chamber, then lower the pressure to boil any water, and sublimate the snow. Provide the energy needed for the phase transition as IR, that will radiate through the vacuum, from a heat lamp or a bank of IR LEDs. The water vapour will be expelled in the output from the vacuum pump.

I am suggesting you freeze dry the snow.

 

[DaveC426913]

Also, some questions:
How much snow? How deep? Area? Density?
What is the temp there? -5C? -20C?
How far does it have to be moved? (The water, I mean)
How much extra room do you have? (A field? A driveway between houses?)
Budget?

 

[sophiecentaur]

Also, some questions:
How much snow? How deep? Area? Density?
What is the temp there? -5C? -20C?
How far does it have to be moved? (The water, I mean)
How much extra room do you have? (A field? A driveway between houses?)
Budget?

This post should be number two in the thread. (Plus the question "What part of the world is the particular snow that needs removal?"

 

[Flyboy]

If you must use thermal means to remove the snow?

Don’t waste your time with electricity. Go to a propane weed burner torch.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Don’t waste your time with electricity.

Any other heat source could be cheaper but, if the snow is 'loose' then mechanically shifting (blower or spade etc.) is far more efficient, the latent heat of melting is 300+MJ per kg but a 300W fan would shift loads of snow to somewhere else. Energy to melt the snow once it's been piled up somewhere is free. The only down side of storing piles of snow is that the earth underneath stays colder in early spring so plants and seeds can take longer to get going.
I can't say that I speak from experience though. In our location there seems never to be any significant snow. It's easy to scrape to away from paths and we are not obliged to clear our 'sidewalks' in UK.

 

[Rive]

if the snow is 'loose' then mechanically shifting ... is far more efficient

I think the thread might have been inspired by the issues around storage instead of moving, but even so: a mechanical solution like compacting still wins.

Ps.: actually, if you have some water source or you simply don't mind wasting water then setting up a sprinkler will do. Groundwater (or: water through ground) usually has temperature above freezing point. Considering the difference in specific heat and the heat needed to phase change it's quite wasteful, but works and at least you won't have to work with electricity in a thoroughly wet environment.

 

[Baluncore]

Don’t waste your time with electricity. Go to a propane weed burner torch.

Heat rises, it will be difficult to heat the snow on the ground without a stove to cover the snow, to contain the propane flame, and to reflect the thermal radiation.

Unlike liquid water, ice has a low dielectric constant. Fresh snow also contains about 90% air by volume.

Electricity can be used, but the energy needs to enter the snow without being optically reflected by the white surface. Consider a metal stove, but use a magnetron to generate microwaves that will penetrate deep into the snow, heating it from within, without reflection from the surface.

Both those techniques will be able to boil the resulting water.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Both those techniques will be able to boil the resulting water.

At what cost? Best to store and allow to melt.
I have never read any opinions about using microwaves 'out in the open'. Sounds like a great interference generator.

 

[jrmichler]

Don’t waste your time with electricity. Go to a propane weed burner torch.

Keep in mind that melting the snow is not enough. You need to warm what's underneath until the water runs off, and the remainder evaporates. Go big or go home.

 

[Baluncore]

I have never read any opinions about using microwaves 'out in the open'. Sounds like a great interference generator.

That is what the ISM bands are there for.
But not "out in the open", that would be inefficient. Do it under a reflective stove cover, like GPR.

 

[sophiecentaur]

That is what the ISM bands are there for

On a bad day, you could expect a thousand times the radiated interference of a pukkah 1kW microwave oven. You could imagine nearby tools and jewellery to start arcing . I'll pass on that one until new radiation limits are published.
PS a 1KW microwave snow clearer would need mains power whilst cordless is now the only way for electric garden tools. Efficiency? Are you serious? Thermal energy is so expensive compared with mechanical energy in the context of any outdoor task I can think of.

On the subject of loopy winter snow activities, have a massive propellor in the garden to deflect the snow on its way down. You could even turn a domestic wind turbine into a fan. The neighbours might not notice what you're up to.