Hydronic Surface Heating: The Miracle of Simple Technology

Now Construction Season is ALL YEAR LONG

You know the old phrase “Minnesota has two seasons: winter and construction season.” But that’s not entirely true, in fact, it hasn’t been true for many years. Thanks to advances in technology, construction season now lasts all year long. Minnesota concrete contractors like Goodmanson use Hydronic Radiant Ground Heating Systems (as well as Insulated Concrete Foundations) to beat the cold!

Cold and Concrete Construction: Not a Good Mix

There are a lot of challenges when you’re trying to work with concrete in the cold. One of the problems is that the cold weather causes the water in the concrete to freeze. If the water freezes, the concrete won’t cure (dry and harden) correctly and that will lead to structural issues over time. The second problem comes when you try to dig in to ice-cold ground. Why don’t you try taking a shovel outside in the middle of February and try to crack into some soil. We’ll wait.

Not so easy, is it? We’ve had some days where it’s so cold that not even a pickaxe will break ground! That doesn’t give you a lot of opportunity to lay down a new sidewalk or parking lot.

So How Do You Get Anything Done?

It’s not easy, but we’ve got tools to help. One of our favorite tools to use in situations like this is our hydronic radiant heating system.

Hydronic Surface Heating Systems: Winter-Be-Gone!

It works on the same principle as home hot water radiator systems. There’s a “boiler” in the machine itself which connects to a tank of water which connects to a long hose. We layer the hose over the ground we need to warm, and then cover that up with a tarp to trap in the radiant heat. Then we click the machine one and presto! The hot water pumps through the hose and circulates back through the machine. It sometimes takes a night for it to finish warming a large surface area. Once that’s done, you’ve got ground as warm as springtime.

You can see it a little bit in this picture here, but we have our very own Wacker 3000 system which we use frequently to get our jobs done during the wintertime.

Do you have a job that you need to take care of over the winter?  Well, allow us to convince you that it can get done. Goodmanson Construction is ready for business all year round. Give us a call or click here for a Free Estimate on your next project.

We’re here to help. And a little cold never hurt anyone.