Shelled out $200 for a heated driveway mat last winter and it melted more than just snow, like my wallet when the electric bill came.

Now I'm back to shoveling because that thing jacked up my power bill by $80 a month and the HOA still complained about the runoff, anyone else regret buying some fancy gadget that just made life harder?

2 comments

2 Comments

violafox7d ago

Oh man, I feel your pain so much. Bought one of those automatic pool cleaners a few years back, thought it would save me hours of scrubbing but it broke down three times in one season and the repair costs were insane. The thing just sits in my garage now gathering dust while I'm back to using the old manual net like a sucker.

taylorb947d ago

Pool cleaners are a different beast, those things are notoriously finicky. But the heated driveway mat situation is more of a use case problem than a gadget failure. You gotta check your local utility rates before plugging something that pulls that much power, and $80 sounds like you were running it 24/7 instead of just pre-storm and during the heavy stuff. The HOA runoff complaint is valid though, maybe the mat just wasn't the right solution for your specific property layout. Did the seller say anything about the expected monthly cost before you bought it, or was that a surprise after the fact?