Quote Originally Posted by Shatara View Post
I dont think I've ever heard of these mythical 'melters'. Got a source?
Ah, sorry, I lost power & didn't see this until now.

Yes, my stepfather. He was an on-call snowplow operator with a company contracted by the Port Authority to clear Newark International Airport. Newark is a very urban area, and snow removal is especially problematic because there just isn't foom for it, everything is pavement and roadways and city. He would plow to a location, bulldozers would scoop it up and dump it into the melters, and the waste water would be directed into a stormdrain. They're industrial equipment.

Ex:

http://www.michiganmelters.com/

One in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmDl_nETs8U

(...I didn't listen to the video, the speakers are off on my computer, so sorry if its a really cheesey ad.)


So yeah....they are out there, they're just an industrial secret for some reason. Why they can't or haven't thought of making scaled-down versions, I just don't understand.