Snow is a great thermal insulator due to its high air content and specific heat capacity (this is why igloos work so well!). It takes a LOT of thermal energy to melt snow - far more than you'll get out of burning fuel like this.
I had a similar thought after a recent ice storm. I tried a propane torch. Similar results-did almost nothing. I hooked up a hose to a hot water outlet and that was about 4x more effective than the fire.
@@joshl90 LOL. - was going to say same thing - water from melted snow re-freezes to. But hot water got me down to concrete at least! Now a dash of salt and all good!
Back in 1973 at Cherry Point MCAS North Carolina we got a record snow fall, our Squadron went and took one of our RF-4Bs and an EA-6A and hooked one of the Units tractors to the nose wheel each and pulled them into the Hanger and started up the 2 planes to become huge snow blowers. Now the snow was close to 12 inches thick and when they turned up the engines sheets of snow like 10 foot square would fly up into the air so no one could be out on the Flight Line. It took about 45 minutes to clear off the snow so my Squadron could fly. Only VMCJ-2 could and did do this while all the other Squadrons shut down for the day. USMC 69 - 73, USAR 77 to 98.
@@Straight_White_Fatherly_Figure I once scraped my arm under my long sleeve shirt as a kid. Didn't change the shirt for at least two to three days. When I finally took it off, I had to pull it off my arm lol.
Hello, Mr. Cymbal; Hey, you could try to use the flamethrower to heat the driveway. Try starting on a clear/nearly clear area, heat up the driveway, let the warm driveway melt it. Also, watch out for melt water refreezing on the driveway & making an ice-slick. If it gets really ice-slick you prolly won't be able to drive on it. I'm not really surprised, the flame may not be hot enough for what you want. But you can use it to heat the driveway & the warm driveway will usually melt ice & snow. Also, heating a driveway can cause cracking because of the temperature difference. I've seen similar issues w/ trying to use warm/hot water on windshields. You prolly know about that, it can break the glass. You do some good videos, keep it up. Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!
Thank you! I have wondered about this since i was about 5. I also am greatly saddened by the results. Yet somehow still considering making the attempt myself.
I think the key here is that it's a flame thrower and not a heat thrower. It's designed to ignite things that are flammable like dried up ferns in your field.
Man that’s a bummer, I work at a boatyard real far north in Maine in the coast, and we get a lot of snow regularly, I’ve certainly had a few days after work fantasizing about how nice it would be to have a flame thrower and just melt everything at once lol. At least I know it won’t much work, and instead I just need to get me a 4x4 and a plow lol
I was honestly thinking about doing something like this with a propane torch next winter. I live in the San Bernardino county mountains in California. We recently had 91" of snow in only 7 days(it's been about 30 years since the area had this kind of storm), and I had this idea. Guess it's not such a hot idea after all.
You could try powdered sodium mixed with powdered graphite if you want another flame method to remove snow. Note that the graphite is to slow down the reaction because an explosion would be undesirable. P,ease also note that I have not tested whether that is enough to make it not explode.
I live in northern Vermont and I tried melting ice and snow with a propane weed burner. Needless to say, it didn't work very well with the melted snow refreezing almost immediately. I will say the air temp was -15F at the time which made it almost impossible.
Exactly - the melted snow water refreezes very quickly. You'd pretty much have to evaporate it completely to make this torch technique effective & worthwhile.
A propane weed torch is pretty good against ice because it directs the flame downward. A flamethrower is mostly going to heat the air above it and create a layer of water vapor that protects the ice underneath. On top of that, snow is a great insulator so it will protect the ice crystals that are deeper in the pile. The most effective thing for a driveway is it just keep on top of it. If you keep the snow off of it, the sun will heat up the driveway and that is usually enough to dry it completely. If you need to get through ice quick, use some salt and crack the surface with something like a sledge hammer or tamping iron.
My parents' method was to just pack it down by driving over it. Having the driveway raised up and less banks on either side means less snow getting caught and accumulating.
We can buy those here in Canada. About $1400. That's a nope for me. A store here even sells the fuel backpack for it. Kinda cool for SHTF but that's about it. Couldn't do much with it in the city.
I would do it, if it was beneficial. But for lawns, that rarely is every a good choice. If you haven't seen the lawn I got here, it was a wreck, turned around all in place. ua-cam.com/video/193zGwu_5rM/v-deo.html
Cool! And a lot like making Baked Alaska. 🍨 So, completely agree with all points; I'd probably spend my money & energy spreading a rock salt & sand/gravel mixture instead of doing this. (However, the weed-rid technique is a good one, yes - flame works very well for that :)
Would you consider educating us on irrigation systems for yards in drought? We’re having to change things and get into Xeriscaping where I live. I love your channel thanks for all you do and share!
I am so excited to see people remember these. It was a TON of work to get my hands on that. I have a special video coming up on that in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out I think you will like it
@@SilverCymbal Ok, ok (honestly) I can't wait ! As a student in electronics I had a project last year to "re-use" a Minitel as a Linux terminal and on a server simulating the original services of the old Minitel which I remember was not easy. If you need advices or translation of technical documentation tell me I will be happy to help you ! Have a nice day.
Despite what you said comparing how this works to an oil fired furnace, I was still surprised how much it sounds like an oil furnace firing up when you pull the trigger. 😀
Yes I agree, it is a very clever adaption of exactly how they work. Only real difference is that the furnaces have a safety sensor to ensure the flame has fired so they don't keep squirting out fuel
I have wanted to see a flame thrower on snow for some time. I had calculated, many years ago, that the heat required to even change the snow to liquid form, never mind vaporizing it made this option considerably less energy efficient than mechanical methods of removal.
Interesting. Good for setting things on fire it doesn't seem like a high enough temperature for instant snow or ice melting. I'll stick with the long wand propane torch for melting snow and ice on walkways. It pumps some serious BTUs.
Sounds like you might not need this as it didn't work that well for snow and ice anyway, but my diesel furnace tech recommended 9-1-1 fuel antifreeze to keep my diesel tank from slushing up like your tank did
Diesel is good. It increases the energy content by 20% or so. You need some styrofoam dissolved in the gasoline. Far more energy content and it makes the fuel sticky and persistent. Don't know if your equipment allows that use, however.
I can confirm that a propane torch works just about as well, when trying to melt away snow and ice from a driveway or sidewalk. It is good at burning away weeds, but that is about it.
The bracken fern are bioaccumulating excess soluble ions in the soil (largely potassium) and converting them into organically bound forms stabilized in their biomass. If you let them grow long enough they will sequester enough of the excess soluble ions into humified soil organic matter and microbial biomass, as well as transition the ecological succession of the soil microbiology towards a wider fungal to bacterial ratio thus being less conducive to the germination of the bracken fern - and early stage succession pioneer species (aka "weeds") in general. Or you can fast track it by ex situ composting the bracken fern biomass then reincorporating of the humified material and/or applying a more fungal dominant later stage succession inoculum of beneficial microbes ☀
I tried a fresnel lens as a sun scorcher on snow and it was same result couldn’t melt it, even though it would burn wood or melt metal in seconds.. would even heat up snow as it was too reflective and too good an insulator
That flamethrower looks like it could backfire and be dangerous. I want to kill weeds on my gravel driveway but I don’t think I’ll go to the flamethrower route. I think there’s a torch that might be more simple, uses propane & may be easier to control with a long handle & at the bottom is where the the flame comes out. HAVE YOU TRIED ONE?
I'm no pro so take this info as you will, but it seems to me that a flame thrower uses a lot of energy with little results. My guess is if there was a machine built specifically for spreading high temperature controlled flames, you could potentially melt ice and snow more efficiently.
Diesel fuel gets colder in the winter time that’s why they add kerosene to it to keep it from getting gel up. So add some kerosene to your diesel during the lunchtime.
@@SilverCymbal I grew up in France and the minitel was really the first available internet. You could see train timetables, weather forecast, online phone book. Was really useful. You also had paid for service like the "pink" minitel 😂 the owner of Free in France (one of the largest internet provider) started with soft porn services on the minitel. The extraordinary thing is that everyone had a terminal and it was free. I just read that France telecom had a subsidiary in the US that tied to distribute the minitel.
Ice and snow clearly have high insulating capacities, thus the weak results. On the other hand, if it worked, wouldn't this "technic" be terrible for the pavement beneath? Maybe infra-red radiation is reaching the asphalt and heating it up. Drastic temperature changes can't be good for it. (weak results suggest the asphalt is not getting any hotter, though??) 🤔
Thanks for watching please like & subscribe - Favorite Tools: www.amazon.com/shop/silvercymbal
that is you tt account?
Snow is a great thermal insulator due to its high air content and specific heat capacity (this is why igloos work so well!). It takes a LOT of thermal energy to melt snow - far more than you'll get out of burning fuel like this.
That’s why igloos work so well. Spent two nights in one I helped build near Resolute Bay NWT, toasty warm with OAT -40C.
Needs a stronger spray to help lot fuel penetrate deeper
I had a similar thought after a recent ice storm. I tried a propane torch. Similar results-did almost nothing. I hooked up a hose to a hot water outlet and that was about 4x more effective than the fire.
But then the water freezes into ice
@@joshl90 what do you think happens after the flamethrower
@@tonylarose4842 nothing since it didn’t melt much ice lol
@@joshl90 LOL. - was going to say same thing - water from melted snow re-freezes to. But hot water got me down to concrete at least! Now a dash of salt and all good!
@@joshl90 Can always salt/sand/rock melt the driveway after it melts to prevent a re-freeze
Snow is actually a great insulator and that’s the reason it doesn’t melt. Hot water would actually be far more effective than fire.
Back in 1973 at Cherry Point MCAS North Carolina we got a record snow fall, our Squadron went and took one of our RF-4Bs and an EA-6A and hooked one of the Units tractors to the nose wheel each and pulled them into the Hanger and started up the 2 planes to become huge snow blowers. Now the snow was close to 12 inches thick and when they turned up the engines sheets of snow like 10 foot square would fly up into the air so no one could be out on the Flight Line. It took about 45 minutes to clear off the snow so my Squadron could fly. Only VMCJ-2 could and did do this while all the other Squadrons shut down for the day.
USMC 69 - 73, USAR 77 to 98.
I always wondered about a flamethrower on my icy driveway...love this channel!
I did too, I saw a few old videos but they honestly seemed like fake experiments, I wanted to try for myself. So glad you liked it.
WOW! You are BURNING SNOW!!! What madness is this?!?!?
I have to say this is one of the most interesting gadget videos I've seen in some time.
You NEVER want to wear rubber gloves when dealing w/ fire. Ever.
You mean additional skin layers for your hands? 😏
@@Straight_White_Fatherly_Figure No, welders wear leather gloves to protect their skin from the slag.
@@hardkore360 the joke is that rubber gloves become the skin of your hand with heat
@@Straight_White_Fatherly_Figure I once scraped my arm under my long sleeve shirt as a kid. Didn't change the shirt for at least two to three days. When I finally took it off, I had to pull it off my arm lol.
Hello, Mr. Cymbal;
Hey, you could try to use the flamethrower to heat the driveway.
Try starting on a clear/nearly clear area, heat up the driveway, let the warm driveway melt it.
Also, watch out for melt water refreezing on the driveway & making an ice-slick.
If it gets really ice-slick you prolly won't be able to drive on it.
I'm not really surprised, the flame may not be hot enough for what you want.
But you can use it to heat the driveway & the warm driveway will usually melt ice & snow.
Also, heating a driveway can cause cracking because of the temperature difference.
I've seen similar issues w/ trying to use warm/hot water on windshields.
You prolly know about that, it can break the glass.
You do some good videos, keep it up.
Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!
Thank you! I have wondered about this since i was about 5. I also am greatly saddened by the results. Yet somehow still considering making the attempt myself.
I clicked on this video thinking it was gonna be click bait but NOOOO this dude actually is completely deleting snow 😅
I agree the thumbnail looks fake, but it's all the real deal.
Completely deleting snow? I think you need to watch the video.
@@hocus4957 it was sarcasm I watched the complete video but it’s just the idea you get if you start watching i also hoped it would do more
Never a dull video
I think the key here is that it's a flame thrower and not a heat thrower. It's designed to ignite things that are flammable like dried up ferns in your field.
I think I need that tool for brush.
This was as much fun to watch as it probably was to film!
That's so sick lol, no one other than you could make a educational flamethrower video.
Glad you answered that cause my first question was gonna be where on earth did you get a Flamethrower?
Man that’s a bummer, I work at a boatyard real far north in Maine in the coast, and we get a lot of snow regularly, I’ve certainly had a few days after work fantasizing about how nice it would be to have a flame thrower and just melt everything at once lol.
At least I know it won’t much work, and instead I just need to get me a 4x4 and a plow lol
I was honestly thinking about doing something like this with a propane torch next winter. I live in the San Bernardino county mountains in California. We recently had 91" of snow in only 7 days(it's been about 30 years since the area had this kind of storm), and I had this idea. Guess it's not such a hot idea after all.
You could try powdered sodium mixed with powdered graphite if you want another flame method to remove snow. Note that the graphite is to slow down the reaction because an explosion would be undesirable. P,ease also note that I have not tested whether that is enough to make it not explode.
Looks like a lot of fun!
I live in northern Vermont and I tried melting ice and snow with a propane weed burner. Needless to say, it didn't work very well with the melted snow refreezing almost immediately. I will say the air temp was -15F at the time which made it almost impossible.
Exactly - the melted snow water refreezes very quickly. You'd pretty much have to evaporate it completely to make this torch technique effective & worthwhile.
A propane weed torch is pretty good against ice because it directs the flame downward. A flamethrower is mostly going to heat the air above it and create a layer of water vapor that protects the ice underneath. On top of that, snow is a great insulator so it will protect the ice crystals that are deeper in the pile.
The most effective thing for a driveway is it just keep on top of it. If you keep the snow off of it, the sun will heat up the driveway and that is usually enough to dry it completely. If you need to get through ice quick, use some salt and crack the surface with something like a sledge hammer or tamping iron.
My parents' method was to just pack it down by driving over it. Having the driveway raised up and less banks on either side means less snow getting caught and accumulating.
We can buy those here in Canada. About $1400. That's a nope for me.
A store here even sells the fuel backpack for it. Kinda cool for SHTF but that's about it. Couldn't do much with it in the city.
"a fun tool to use"
Talk about an understatement.
Fun experiment
It was certainly interesting to make
There's another added benefit to burning weeds, you put ash into the soil
While it may not have worked it was a ton of fun to watch!
I think Silver Cymbal needs to do a lawn renovation video showing the benefits of first burning out the lawn!
I would do it, if it was beneficial. But for lawns, that rarely is every a good choice. If you haven't seen the lawn I got here, it was a wreck, turned around all in place. ua-cam.com/video/193zGwu_5rM/v-deo.html
Could you do a before and after of the upcoming Nor’easter? Maybe a post on the community tab?
My god thank you for doing this. That was awesome…”the more you know” moment just kicked in 😂
Cool! And a lot like making Baked Alaska. 🍨 So, completely agree with all points; I'd probably spend my money & energy spreading a rock salt & sand/gravel mixture instead of doing this. (However, the weed-rid technique is a good one, yes - flame works very well for that :)
That is too funny! You are 100% right it does look like baked alaska!
Put a little diesel fuel antigel when below freezing. It will make it burn like it's summer.
Would you consider educating us on irrigation systems for yards in drought? We’re having to change things and get into Xeriscaping where I live. I love your channel thanks for all you do and share!
Hello, being French, I am very surprised to see a Minitel on your desk. What uses do you have of it ?
I am so excited to see people remember these. It was a TON of work to get my hands on that. I have a special video coming up on that in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out I think you will like it
@@SilverCymbal Ok, ok (honestly) I can't wait ! As a student in electronics I had a project last year to "re-use" a Minitel as a Linux terminal and on a server simulating the original services of the old Minitel which I remember was not easy. If you need advices or translation of technical documentation tell me I will be happy to help you ! Have a nice day.
This channel has come full circle and evolved into Tim Allen solutions.
Despite what you said comparing how this works to an oil fired furnace, I was still surprised how much it sounds like an oil furnace firing up when you pull the trigger. 😀
Yes I agree, it is a very clever adaption of exactly how they work. Only real difference is that the furnaces have a safety sensor to ensure the flame has fired so they don't keep squirting out fuel
I have wanted to see a flame thrower on snow for some time. I had calculated, many years ago, that the heat required to even change the snow to liquid form, never mind vaporizing it made this option considerably less energy efficient than mechanical methods of removal.
Maybe preheating fuel could be a step towards better ignition? Or adjusting the mixture.
Was kind of hoping for a snippet from Once Upon A Time in Hollywood..."Rick, It's a flamethrower." Anyway cool and interesting video as always.
I wonder if you add some anti gel to the diesel,if that would help the stream during those conditions.
A really useful gadget for getting people to pay attention.
Honey, we need a flame thrower for..ahh, farming.
911, What's your emergency?
LOL, thanks for posting this!
Been doing great videos. Wanted to ask you did you ever work on the show This Old House you sound familiar
I need one of those! I don't have snow to melt or weeds to burn, I just need one : )
Thank you
That's why you can have a fire inside an igloo. Snow won't melt.
I’d like to see a Crazy Rocketman UA-cam video versus snow!
The thermal mass of snow is insane for a little bit of fire to do anything
I couldn't let myself have that, there would be drawings burnt into everything 😂
The Action Lab just did a video on this too, talking about the science of it. But he just did a snow ball over a flame, not a flame thrower. :)
The soot it leaves behind will help the snow melt faster.
Saw a video that someone had a small layer of snow on their driveway and it worked on that, but was barely any snow on the ground at all.
Interesting. Good for setting things on fire it doesn't seem like a high enough temperature for instant snow or ice melting. I'll stick with the long wand propane torch for melting snow and ice on walkways. It pumps some serious BTUs.
I've seen people before use this method but wondered how effective. I use this method for weeds on and in between sidewalks
Sounds like you might not need this as it didn't work that well for snow and ice anyway, but my diesel furnace tech recommended 9-1-1 fuel antifreeze to keep my diesel tank from slushing up like your tank did
Diesel is good. It increases the energy content by 20% or so. You need some styrofoam dissolved in the gasoline. Far more energy content and it makes the fuel sticky and persistent. Don't know if your equipment allows that use, however.
Or dissolve pure soap flakes into the diesel. It makes the diesel gel and therefore stick
Snow is a good insulator
Coolest video this year 😎
Damn, I thought of just this, getting snow off the end of the driveway this past snowstorm in New England. Too bad it doesn't seem to really work.
I can confirm that a propane torch works just about as well, when trying to melt away snow and ice from a driveway or sidewalk. It is good at burning away weeds, but that is about it.
The bracken fern are bioaccumulating excess soluble ions in the soil (largely potassium) and converting them into organically bound forms stabilized in their biomass. If you let them grow long enough they will sequester enough of the excess soluble ions into humified soil organic matter and microbial biomass, as well as transition the ecological succession of the soil microbiology towards a wider fungal to bacterial ratio thus being less conducive to the germination of the bracken fern - and early stage succession pioneer species (aka "weeds") in general. Or you can fast track it by ex situ composting the bracken fern biomass then reincorporating of the humified material and/or applying a more fungal dominant later stage succession inoculum of beneficial microbes ☀
I tried a fresnel lens as a sun scorcher on snow and it was same result couldn’t melt it, even though it would burn wood or melt metal in seconds.. would even heat up snow as it was too reflective and too good an insulator
i would suggest a diesel 90 to 10 gasoline mixture for a nice thick fire
Boys will be boys😂
That's a bummer. I think I'm going to try gasoline for the ice treads on the driveway though to soften it up.
you had me go :O when you set the brush on fire
Yes, but keep in mind bracken ferns kill animals every year. One of the few ferns you don't want around 2:02
That’s crazy it looks like Bernt Snow
Enjoy your toys. Cool
That flamethrower looks like it could backfire and be dangerous.
I want to kill weeds on my gravel driveway but I don’t think I’ll go to the flamethrower route.
I think there’s a torch that might be more simple, uses propane & may be easier to control with a long handle & at the bottom is where the the flame comes out. HAVE YOU TRIED ONE?
Yes absolutely, I made a video about killing weeds with a torch and other easy methods (non-chemical) here ua-cam.com/video/eFD7Ssj9y88/v-deo.html
Snow is a great insulator.
Fresh snow on sidewalks works well with leaf blowers though..lol
Propane one would work better for that lol
Maybe fire blast might work it has a higher base power than flamethrower.
A little everclear might thin out the diesel a bit.
I'm no pro so take this info as you will, but it seems to me that a flame thrower uses a lot of energy with little results. My guess is if there was a machine built specifically for spreading high temperature controlled flames, you could potentially melt ice and snow more efficiently.
Can't believe I'm watching snow get burnt lol lmfao
“Legal, even in California.” 😂
Diesel fuel gets colder in the winter time that’s why they add kerosene to it to keep it from getting gel up. So add some kerosene to your diesel during the lunchtime.
perfect for the zombie apocalypse.
Propane torch for weeds
Gee that was interesting.
How come you have a minitel on the table/bench?
The fact you recognize that is awesome. I have a video in the works on that.
@@SilverCymbal I grew up in France and the minitel was really the first available internet. You could see train timetables, weather forecast, online phone book. Was really useful. You also had paid for service like the "pink" minitel 😂 the owner of Free in France (one of the largest internet provider) started with soft porn services on the minitel. The extraordinary thing is that everyone had a terminal and it was free. I just read that France telecom had a subsidiary in the US that tied to distribute the minitel.
@@SilverCymbal looking forward to seeing the video. Always enjoy your videos. They are great and informative, even from the UK!
I like the Plasma version
A real snow blower!
I have no reason or need for one but I want one.
"I think it's clear now"
*proceeds to burn down the entire county*
Originally I had a little of the talking heads burning down the house but I took it out.
It's fire 🔥 how would it not melt snow
What a cool channel
I really appreciate that thank you
So we essentially get a roasted snow/ice rather than water.
What if you pour gasoline on the ice/snow first. It feels like it would be much more effective
I'd get arrested if I had that.
I don’t think cops will want to approach you holding that.
A propane torch is more effective and easier to manage for weed elimination. Maybe less fun.
Maybe try a weed torch?
Yes, for a small area it would work, but you use a ton of fuel to do it
I believe snow has insulating properties.
Low combustion efficiency though
Ice and snow clearly have high insulating capacities, thus the weak results. On the other hand, if it worked, wouldn't this "technic" be terrible for the pavement beneath? Maybe infra-red radiation is reaching the asphalt and heating it up. Drastic temperature changes can't be good for it. (weak results suggest the asphalt is not getting any hotter, though??) 🤔
only use I can think off is to ward off a Grizly attack.
I seen ones work. One you have doesn't seem to.😐
I understand the energy consumption far exceeds the logic but i want one for fun