@tokyo 14 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Interesting. Are they common? Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Thats a cool thing. Would really have liked that here this year. It must save you a lot of hard eork. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted February 22, 2014 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted February 22, 2014 They're quite common around here yes. Some people just have them along the front in their driveways or going round the house. Has saved a lot of work moving snow yes. Raku! Like I said though not cheap. The ido drilling, pump and associated work was around 1.5 million, and you have the electricity running costs on top of that in the winter months of course. It's there though so we now have it to use into the future. The only real downside for me is that the water coming up from the well stains the concrete mostly in the places it lands once 'sprinkled'. It's not that bad in this area, but if you go to Nagaoka city and some other areas you will see lots of the concrete there is really stained like a deep brown/red colour. It's really not a good look. I have tried to cover up a few parts for now but want to look into how I can try to protect it more before the start of next season. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Those systems are really good. Japan should use geothermal much more. No fossil fuels and all that. Our roof is 45 degrees so we get no snow accumulating on it. I have to use a snowblower though to remove the snow that's slid off, but to be honest I'd need a snowblower anyway for our approach and car park. Luckily we have plenty of room around the house to chuck the snow. A fair few people in snow zones live in built-up areas, where a system like Andrew's is almost essential. It wrecks the snow, but I like winter sun. As muika's photos attest, there are lots of beautifully clear sunny days in winter. It also warms the house up for nothing, which is always welcome. If winter were simply storms and 9 hours of grey daylight in between, it would be a bit depressing. Link to post Share on other sites
gifugill 0 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 ...but to be honest I'd need a snowblower anyway for our approach and car park. Luckily we have plenty of room around the house to chuck the snow. Can't you recoup some by charging for your car park? 500 yen a day should make it more attractive than the usual 1000 yen! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 You seem to get more of those clear days over there than we do here, Mr Wiggles. And I'd prefer to have more, we seem to get more of those overcast-y kind of annoying days. I see it's nice and blue sky/cloud in Hakuba today, still snowing here. I want more blue sky days! Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 What I like about winter in Shizuoka is that it's not really winter at all. I had enough winter growing up in Canada. When I want winter it's only a short drive away! Link to post Share on other sites
634-maru 4 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 The well/sprinkler systems are really good. Interesting to hear how they work. Link to post Share on other sites
egglesby 1 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Can you let us know about how much the running costs are for that pump system? Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 It seems a jolly good idea. Link to post Share on other sites
SnowJapan Admin SnowJapan#Andrew 6 Posted February 22, 2014 SnowJapan Admin Share Posted February 22, 2014 Sure, we have only had two bills so far since we started using it. The first one was about 17000 yen and the second one around 13000 yen (less snow, and fiddled about with settings) One oddity of this system is that the thing shuts down for 1 hour every day in the afternoon. Even if it's blizzard and you want to use it, you can't. Actually there is a way to have it available 24/7 - if you have it available through the year it doesn't have this shut down period, but our winter only contract there is the one hour off. In the whirlwind of the beginning of the season, I did at one point try to find a good proper reason for this strange setup. The best I could get was 'this is just how it works', so I remember soon giving up and moving on to more important things before my head exploded. Shikata ga nai, ne! Link to post Share on other sites
@tokyo 14 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Shikata nai ne! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Do they have the water pump/sprinkler systems up in for example Hokkaido? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Not that I've seen.....certainly not in the city. Perhaps nearer to onsen places, but some people have heated driveways Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Heated driveway thats a nice idea but I guess would be quite expensive on electric? Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Weekdays very quiet at lots of places. You can park right by the lifts in some places! Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Heated driveway thats a nice idea but I guess would be quite expensive on electric? Arai had a heated plaza. Cost them a fortune! Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 SJ-Andrew, on 23 February 2014 - 07:43 AM, said: One oddity of this system is that the thing shuts down for 1 hour every day in the afternoon. Even if it's blizzard and you want to use it, you can't. That'll be the great inaka tradition of "ippuku". Cigarette break! The running cost sounds fine. That whole region gets manic amounts of snow lower down at town level. This may be a "bad" season, but JMA's poles still say 2.5m at Tsunan and 2.0m at Yuzawa. Its a really weird climate, because it's not that cold, just super snowy down to low altitude. The locals there pay a big price for ski slopes to play on. The Bubble-era house cum restaurant I used to live in had a separate boiler for heating the approach, but I think it might have just been the concrete stairs up to the entrance. I was told it was broken and never investigated further. For water based systems, I guess it helps that Yuzawa is not so cold, so that the water freezing is not an issue. Sheet ice on the road/your approach would be much worse than snow. Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 I like 80's style ski pants, on the ladies of course. Not so keen on the men. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts