Peter C. asked: "How does the asphalt heater work? I’ve got a large blow torch that attaches to a gas grill propane tank. I’ve thought about heating the cracks so the asphalt would melt and fill in cracks. I’m thinking that you can’t re heat old asphalt."
You can re-heat old asphalt. It is a standard and preferred practice. A blow torch will not work since a direct flame ruins the asphalt tar. The heat source needs to be infrared. I tried for several years to build my own infrared heater of about 3'x 4'. I got it to work, but it never got hot enough. Infrared runs at about 1800 degrees. The heater gets the asphalt to about 250-300 degrees.
The procedure is to heat the asphalt for about 8-12 minutes depending on weather. It will soften the 2-3" of asphalt. Once it is soft, the edges of the area are scarfed to make a distinct edge. The area is raked and a rejuvenation liquid is added to renew the tars in the asphalt. Additional asphalt is added to make the area level and then a vibrating compactor is used to tamp it and make it flat to the surface of the road.
What's nice about the infrared patch is that it has no seam since the area was not cut and the patch bonds hot asphalt to hot asphalt.
All of the 'pot holes' I have are what's known as bird holes, which are areas that have sunk in due to a weak area in the road bed. I have about 20 of them in one area of the road that clearly was not prepared properly.
Here's the unit I bought - -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MdTj7TNbA
You can re-heat old asphalt. It is a standard and preferred practice. A blow torch will not work since a direct flame ruins the asphalt tar. The heat source needs to be infrared. I tried for several years to build my own infrared heater of about 3'x 4'. I got it to work, but it never got hot enough. Infrared runs at about 1800 degrees. The heater gets the asphalt to about 250-300 degrees.
The procedure is to heat the asphalt for about 8-12 minutes depending on weather. It will soften the 2-3" of asphalt. Once it is soft, the edges of the area are scarfed to make a distinct edge. The area is raked and a rejuvenation liquid is added to renew the tars in the asphalt. Additional asphalt is added to make the area level and then a vibrating compactor is used to tamp it and make it flat to the surface of the road.
What's nice about the infrared patch is that it has no seam since the area was not cut and the patch bonds hot asphalt to hot asphalt.
All of the 'pot holes' I have are what's known as bird holes, which are areas that have sunk in due to a weak area in the road bed. I have about 20 of them in one area of the road that clearly was not prepared properly.
Here's the unit I bought - -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1MdTj7TNbA