Do any of you have experience using one of these for melting ice/snow?
I suspect that it will be tedious, and I don't know how long a tank of gas will last.
No experience with it but the numbers don't really pan out. 1 gallon of propane has about 91,500 BTUs. It takes 288,000 BTUs to melt one ton of ice, plus whatever is needed to bring it from the temperature it's at to 32°F. However, that assumes perfect heat transfer from the torch to the ice, as well as a flame which burns every bit of propane. Remember heat rises. Most of the energy from the propane torch will go into the cold air, not into melting the ice. In practice I'd be surprised if 10% of the energy in the propane goes into melting ice. That would be enough to melt perhaps 50 or 60 pounds of ice. If using propane torches were an effective way to remove ice then everyone would already be doing it. Getting a very thin layer of ice off a few steps, fine. But for anything much more than that, you had better be ready to buy propane by the tens of gallons at least.
Salt is much more practical, even if a bit messy.
Thankfully all I had to do was 40 feet of sidewalk, plus the walk leading to the front steps, and the front steps/stoop. Since I don't drive or own a car, mother nature can take care of the driveway in her own good time.
