Heat Tape Pro is rated for wet locations and outdoor environments. It is ideally suited for outdoor pipes and can be installed in open drains, such as 4″ PVC pipes for gutter system drainage.
Do not use Pipe Freeze Pro for wet location pipe freeze protection.
Self-Regulating Heat Tape will draw variable Power depending on the ambient temperature. It draws more power when temperatures are cold and less power when temperatures are warmer. However when the self-regulating cable is plugged in, it is always working, even if only slightly drawing power in warm temperatures. Adding the temperature-controlled switch like ThermaCord to plug-in heat tape or a Thermostatic Controller with Sensor to field assembled cable, will cut the supply of power to your Heat tape when it is not needed.
This will save you energy Costs.
This includes, but is not limited to:
The type of roof you have determines the roof clips and accessories needed. Check out our Heat Tape Installation Accessories.
You must cover pipe, freeze prevention, cable with insulation under all circumstances. Otherwise it will likely fail to do its job. This includes both Pipe Freeze Pro and Heat Tape Pro.
Use a minimum 1/2″ thickness standard pipe insulation.
Heat Tape Pro & Piper Freeze Pro can both overlap and/or touch itself in your installation.
It’s fine to overlap your heat tape pro, or have it touching itself in your install. The cable only itself heats up to less than 100ºF at most. This is plenty of warmth to stop ice dams from forming, but isn’t that much warmer than the temperature of your body. Sometimes it won’t even feel that warm to the touch.
This is different than a lot of heat tape that can be purchased at stores: contestant wattage cable can get much hotter and can even be dangerous if you overlap them. Not our cable, however.
Pipe Freeze Pro can touch itself, overlap with itself, or be wrapped around itself on the pipe. It won’t get too hot because not only is it designed to have a maximum output temperature that is less than 100ºF, it is self-regulating –so it’s output adjusts to the ambient temperature near the cable.
Our cables operate at between 40ºF to 90ºF so they will not melt or damage any surface or material they come into contact with. Except chocolate. Our cables will thoroughly melt chocolate.
Including a thermostatic heat tape switch or controller in your installation will cut power to your heat tape in times it is not needed. This will lessen your environmental footprint and save you money.
Savings will always depend on the weather and how often you have temperatures above the threshold that the switch turns on your heat cable. In most situations where heat cable is needed, savings will offset the cost of the ThermaCord and then some.
We are building a hand guide to identify what kind of roof you have and find the clips that can/should be used with that roof-type.
View the Guide Explaining What Clips You Need Here
We have a guide on How to Measure for Purchasing Heat Tape that will help you. Once you have your measurements, you can find our Heat Tape Calculator here.
