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Madison Co. Virginia | There were some experiments carried out in the 1980's using non-electric geothermal heat for road surfaces. I think there was an interstate off-ramp in Wyoming that was used as a test-bed for the concept. I have no idea if it's still in use.
A well would be drilled near the roadway, and a series of capped iron pipes would fill the well bore. Each iron pipe went to a manifold that led to lines under the roadway. Everything was sloped to drain back to the pipe in the well. Each of those enclosed systems would be charged with enough ammonia to have a few feet of liquid ammonia at the bottom of the pipe.
Any time the roadway surface was colder than the ground temperature, the system would start working automatically. Ammonia would vaporize underground, rise to the roadway, condense, and drip back down again. As long as the pipes didn't crack or rust through, the system would work indefinitely with no energy expense whatsoever.
The initial reports on the system after just a year or two of operation were positive, and indicated it was effective at keeping up with snowfall if laid out correctly. The paper I was reading was from the same time period, so I have no info about how it held up over time. The concept is very intriguing, particularly for commercial property usage; but I expect the cost of drilling multiple wells makes it impractical.
Edited by kipps 1/21/2025 09:28
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Heated outside slabs ?
