My local section is well-known for the length & severity of our winters & often referred to as the “snow belt.” Our temperature is properly below chilly for more than half the year & often drops into the setback digits.
The two of us get a lot more snow accumulation than the national average; Dealing with the challenges of the weather is high-priced, time-consuming & labor-intensive.
The two of us need four-wheel-drive vehicles, extra warm clothing, snow shovels & ice scrapers. A powerful & reliable gas furnace is a necessity. I am fortunate that our home is heated by a boiler. The boiler uses water to convey heat energy & is attractively energy efficient. Hydronic heating is also clean, quiet & gentle. It avoids unpleasant temperature stratification, drafts, cold spots & the introduction of air contaminants. Inside the house, we have radiant radiant floors. A network of pipes is concealed beneath the floors, & the heat from those pipes radiates evenly across the surface. No matter how cold it gets outside, the living space is perfectly comfortable. One of the best benefits of the boiler gas furnace is that it attachs to a snowmelt system, then very much prefer the radiant floor inside, we have a series of pipes installed beneath the pavement of the front steps, walkways & driveway. The snowmelt system reacts to temperature drop & moisture, automatically starts up & keeps the surfaces clear. Since it snows nearly every day for 6 weeks, the system is harshly helpful. The two of us don’t need to shovel or plow. There’s no worry over slipping on the ice, & we don’t get wet feet from walking through multiple feet of snow.