melting snow

[DLwalsh]

How do I determine the melting ability of a 200 watt lamp mounted in an enclosure, placed in the ground. The surface of the enclosure, at room temperature rises to 120C. How fast can it melt snow, as it falls on its surface? At what rate of snow fall will over come the ability of the enclosure to melt the snow?

 

[dvd]

Your problem depends upon the air temperature, ground temperature around the enclosure, wind speed and the snow itself. There is a chapter on Snow-Melting Systems in "Handbook of HVAC Design" by Grimm and Rosaler, published by McGraw-Hill that might be of some use.

 

[IRstuff]

SAE 1168/4 "Ice, Rain, Fog, and Frost Protection" if you can get it provides some useful guidelines on what king of heat load is required to prevent ice formation.

TTFN