A heated driveway typically costs around $2.66 per hour of use for an average 400 square foot sized driveway. Modern systems automatically sense moisture and can turn on and off as required before snow accumulates and becomes a slip hazard that needs to be shoveled manually or using a snowblower.
Cost of electricity for a heated driveway per hour
The average electricity cost for consumers in the US is 13.31 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). Check out this page to see what 1 kWh entails in terms of appliance usage in your home.
An average driveway heating system is rated at 50 watts per square foot. I’ve also heard about systems that operate at 45 and 55 watts respectively.
A typical driveway is 20′ x 20′ = 400 square feet in size.
400 square feet x 50 watts = 20,000 watts = 20 kW. (1,000 W = 1 kW)
20 kW x $0.1331 per kWh = $2.66 per hour
Thus you can expect to pay $2.66 per hour in electricity costs for an under driveway heating system for an average sized driveway. So if you ran the system for 6 hours during a snowstorm, it would cost $15.96.
By comparison, a snowplowing service
may cost $350 – $450 per season with a limit on the number of visits and a minimum snow accumulation required before they show up.
Cost to install a heated driveway
Online research suggests that a heated driveway can cost $12 – $21 per square foot to build. Home Advisor suggests that a heated driveway installation costs an average of $3,900 and that prices tend to range from $1,300 – $7,500 but that fully automated systems can run up to $10,000 or more depending on the size of your driveway.
Fully automated heating systems can be installed that will sense moisture and snowfall and immediately turn on and off as required. The benefit of this is that when a snowfall arrives in the middle of the night or when you are away from home, your driveway remains clear right at the start of the snowfall.
A manual system can be turned on and off as required which is cheaper to install and possibly cheaper to operate since you decide how often it runs rather than relying on an automatic sensor that may operate longer.
Types of underground driveway heating options
The two common ways of underground driveway heating are both systems installed underneath the driveway surface but using different heating methods:
Electric systems are comprised of a grid of cables woven together in a pattern throughout the driveway that are heated with electricity. These are similar to the style used for indoor floor heating in homes. The control system may be set up inside the home in the basement or garage.
Hydronic systems are ones that involve tubing filled with a water solution heated through a boiler in a grid pattern throughout the driveway. The boiler is typically located in the garage of your home.
Systems can be automated so they turn on and off automatically when they sense moisture or snow on the driveway or when the temperatures falls close to freezing when ice forms. Anyone who has ever slipped on a driveway with black ice knows how dangerous it can be when you least expect it.
The system can raise the temperature of the driveway to a specific level and then shut off automatically or when the precipitation stops. More expensive systems can be set up with sensors at different areas of the driveway or walkway to independently control each part.
Some driveway installations may include insulation to help the system heat the driveway more efficiently.
Who needs a heated driveway?
Heated driveways can benefit a wide variety of people who own a home with an asphalt, brick, concrete or ceramic tile driveway and/or a walkway and who get cold weather with significant snowfall and ice in winter.
A heated driveway can be of benefit if you have a:
- Driveway, especially one that is on a grade where vehicles can slide up or down on icy surfaces.
- Walkway that gets slippery when snowfall or ice develops.
- Home business where people visit your home and could slip and fall, creating a liability for you.
- Disability that prevents you from shoveling, are elderly or have a family member who is.
- Desire to never shovel snow again.
Clearing snow is sometimes a time-sensitive activity
If you live in a region that sees significant snowfalls, you could certainly benefit from a heated driveway to eliminate the time-consuming and potentially dangerous act of shoveling snow by hand. I also found out personally that shoveling snow is sometimes better done sooner than later.
One time in January in the middle of winter I decided to wait until a snow storm had stopped before going outside with my snowblower to clear the driveway.
Bad move.
A rain storm followed which froze the driveway and turned it into a thick block of ice probably 3″ thick. I’d never seen ice that thick on a driveway before. I haven’t seen it that thick since, either.
Turns out I didn’t actually see the driveway for another 2 months because the ice was so thick and temperatures were so cold, I couldn’t break the ice until March when temperatures started to warm up a bit. For that period of time, the driveway got quite slippery at times as the temperature rose and fell and ice developed.
Heated driveway pros and cons
While the main benefits of a heated driveway and walkway might be obvious, there are actually a series of pros and cons to consider to ensure the investment makes sense.
| Heated driveway pros | Heated driveway cons |
| Eliminates shoveling, use of a snowblower or snowplowing service and use of salt or deicing products. | Expensive to install, up to $10,000 depending on driveway size. Electricity costs are ongoing with usage. |
| Modern systems turn on and off automatically to melt snow before it accumulates keeping the driveway snow free at all times. | May not help melt snow at the bottom of your driveway when a snowplow comes by with accumulated snow in a large pile. |
| Can prevent dangerous slip and fall injuries which could result in a lawsuit. | Expensive to repair as they are built underneath the driveway and would require digging up the area in question. |
| Easier on your driveway which can be damaged from shoveling and using an ice chipper. | Can only be installed on a new driveway or when the old one is dug up. |
| Increases driving safety if you have a driveway on an upwards or downwards grade to prevent vehicles from sliding dangerously on an icy surface. | Might not be worth the investment if you don’t receive particularly large snowfalls. |
A heated driveway is not cheap but…
The average US consumer pays 13.31 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh) and that number has been climbing. The ongoing cost to use a heated driveway depends on how often you turn it on and the size of your driveway.
As mentioned earlier, the cost to build a heated driveway is not cheap either. Home Advisor reports that the average installation cost of a heated driveway is $3,900 but given that the size of the driveway is key, the cost could go as high as around $10,000 or more with automation.
Mind you, the time and cost to shovel a driveway, use a snowblower or pay a snowplowing service that arrives on their schedule costs money too. Anyone who lives in a wintry climate who receives large sudden snowfalls knows this. Some snowplow companies won’t take new customers when they reach a certain clientele level, too.
And a lawsuit for a slip and fall injury on your driveway may be even costlier. The average slip and fall injury may cost $45,000 – $55,000 and is typically settled out of court according to law firm Gacovino Lake & Associates.
If you run a home business and have people visiting your residence for commercial purposes, the cost of a heated driveway may pay for itself and be considered a cost of protecting your company against a lawsuit.
How a heated driveway works in action
Here’s a short video from Canadian company SNOWMELTING.ca who builds heated driveways for customers in Quebec. Located west of Montreal, this company knows a thing or two about heavy winter snowfalls.
The video compares salting a driveway with their built-in heated driveway system and shows how it proactively keeps a driveway clear of snow during a snowfall.
The real benefit of a heated driveway
As I found out when I delayed shoveling my driveway and then experienced a sudden rain storm, sometimes timing is everything. A heated driveway is on-demand snow clearing without any work on your part. Modern driveway heating systems can be set up to turn on and off as needed when the system senses snowfall on your driveway.
This is very different from other forms of snow clearing:
Shoveling – The first thing to consider is the health dangers of shoveling snow like a heart attack, slip and fall, throwing your back out or some other injury. The second issue is that you often find yourself shoveling on and off several times during the day of a major snowfall to keep up with the accumulation. Otherwise, if you wait too long you’re lifting and pushing very large and heavy piles of snow, increasing the aforementioned health concerns.
Snowblower – As with shoveling, you might find yourself going out several times during a major snowfall because as soon as you finish the work, the snow continues to accumulate if it’s still coming down.
Snowplow service – A snowplow service generally only shows up when a minimum amount of snow falls. And during a large snow storm, they’ll arrive at your house when they can. As above, if they arrive early during the storm and it continues after they’ve left your house, are they going to come back later on in the day to plow your driveway again?
Summary
Modern homes are only starting to be built with options such as driveway heating. Underfloor indoor heating is relatively new for that matter. Over time, don’t be surprised if more home builders offer the ability to install an underground driveway heating system during the home purchase process.
While electricity is the norm for driveway heating, I wonder how long it will be before we tap into solar to power this sort of home benefit? Until then electricity is the popular option and with automated systems easily installed, the “work” involved in snow shoveling disappears.