Snow melting, measured
What it actually costs to keep a driveway clear
SnowWatt works out melt rates, circuit loads and running costs from published manufacturer specifications and public climate and energy data. Every figure here is either cited to its source or marked as ours — and where a manufacturer publishes nothing, we say so instead of filling the gap.
The signature reading
Will a mat actually keep up where you live?
Every portable mat on the market claims the same 2 in/hr, so the number that separates them is not the mat — it is the snow. We divide each zone's published daily-snowfall thresholds by that claim and print what falls out. Here is the Great Lakes Snowbelt (MI, northern OH/IN, western NY) reading for a HeatTrak HR20-60, the modal case: 8 of our 14 zones land on the same verdict.
Melt gauge — HeatTrak HR20-60 in Great Lakes Snowbelt (MI, northern OH/IN, western NY)
- ≥ 0.1 in61.0 d/yr3 min
- ≥ 1 in25.5 d/yr30 min
- ≥ 3 in8.8 d/yr1.5 h
- ≥ 5 in4.0 d/yr2.5 h
- ≥ 10 in0.9 d/yr5.0 h
- Design day
- 5 in
- Clears in
- 2.5 h
- Running per year
- 47 h
- Melt rate (claimed)
- 2 in/hr
A 5 in day clears in 2.5 h, but normal snowfall means about 47 h of running a year.
Start here
What snow actually costs you over ten years
Four ways to deal with a driveway, costed side by side from your own area, your zone's snowfall and your own quotes. Two of the four have no published price anywhere — those you supply, and until you do, this leaves them blank rather than guessing.
| Option | Up front | Per season | Total | Breaks even vs plow |
|---|
Enter an area to see the comparison.
The data behind it
- Products on file
- 38
- Currently sold
- 32
- Snow zones
- 14
- Normals period
- 1991–2020
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