By William Tauro

On Tuesday morning the City of Somerville contracted to bring in a much bigger snow melting process to even the playing field.

Where the first snowmelter was too small to do the job, the city brought in the Trecan 80-PD, the newest addition to the Trecan fleet.

With a capacity of melting 80 tons of snow per hour, the Trecan 80-PD 15 million BTU / hr burner can melt 200 to 400 cubic yards of snow with an average snow density of 15 to 30 lbs per cubic foot per hour.

The Trecan 80-PD is fast becoming the choice of large snow contractors, large shopping centers and malls.

With the Trecan 80-PD, you simply add 1500 gallons of water in the melting tank before starting the machine. Simply add a couple of buckets of snow in the melting tank and the melting process begins.

This particular Snowmelter is positioned in front of the snowfarm located at the old transfer station on Linwood Street.

According to a representative at Trecam, a brand new 80-PD unit sells for $355,000