Plated snowmelt through deck

hr

do you mean plates under a 2X wood decking material?

I think the RE guys did some exposed steps with plates once in Montana.

hot rod

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Unknown

Has anyone ever actually installed a deck snowmelt using plates? Does it work, at all?

ALH_4

Steps

If that's the project I am thiking of, those were concrete steps heated from below with Thermofin, and they weren't truly exposed beneath. It worked ok, but the steps have failed due to poor drainage, and new steps are being installed with tube embedded in the concrete. Apparently the general contractor used inappropriate materials for the harsh climate of north-central Montana. Everything was cracking up from freeze-thaw. RE did snowmelt a fairly large above ground concrete deck a few years ago, but I suspect that is not what Rob is talking about.

For decks, if they could make Trex with a hole down the center for a tube, it would be perfect. With plates, I would be concerned about the moisture freezing and thawing. I think any sandwich would be destroyed in short order.

Unknown

This in particular is some kind of regular frame deck with EPDM on top. I'm just wondering if we can do anything at all useful for "snowmelting" here, even if it just decouples the snow from the deck to be pushed off the side....

hr

many moons ago

I built a panel for a heating contractor in Sun Valley, Idaho. It was a flat roofed resturant with a dinning deck above. It had a staple up rubber tube system under 3/4 plywood with a membrane covering. Joists were 12" on center so the tube spacing was fairly tight.

Certainly plates would enhance the energy delivery. Do any of the snowmelt programs allow you to "adjust" the surface r-value. if so add the value for 3/4 wood, or whatever.

As `I recall the Heatway rep in Salt Lake did the design work for the system. As far as I know it worked fine. Hopefully it wasn't E-2!

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Joe_75

When I did my rock walkway I did the snowmelt on the deck up to the door. I cut 2" foam the width of each deck board then channeled it for 1/2" Pex and attached it to the underside of each deck board. It allowed the water to drain and did work, but not efficiently. After the first year I put 2" below the first two but did not see much gain. I run it for my bother-in-law who is in a chair.

Unknown

interesting, thanks HR. Might be tough to correct for the r value, and probably will end up being cost prohibitive, but that's enough to think about giving it a shot at least.

Thanks again!