Yes. When the Heat Tape is plugged into a working outlet the plug will light up.
Note:
If you are using a Thermostatic switch like the ThermaCord with Heat Tape Pro, the plug on your heat tape will only be lit up when the ambient temperature is low enough and your ThermaCord has switched on power to your Heat tape. (for Pipe Freeze Pro, the thermostatic switch is integrated and comes after the plug, so your plug should be illuminated)
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.
Every Length of Heat Tape Pro has a cord length of 10-feet that is not included in the listed/state length. Meaning: A 100-foot Heat Tape pro will have a 100 feet of heated cable + a 10-foot unheated power cord.
Every Length of Pipe Freeze Pro has a cord length of 3-feet (36″) that is not included in the listed/state length. Meaning: A 30-foot Heat Tape pro will have a 30 feet of heated cable + a 3-foot unheated power cord.
Radiant Solutions Self-Regulating Heat Tape changes its heat output based on the temperatures of its surrounding environment. At any given point, depending on the temperatures outside, the cable could be a range of temperatures. However, its peak temperature is not very hot –typically between 60º-85º when operating in a cool environment. Another way to think about it is that as long as the cable is above freezing it will do its job, which is to create and maintain melted pathways through snow and ice.
This gives our Heat Tape a great advantage over the heat tape you can buy in ‘Big Box’ retailers, because it creates enough warmth to effectively do its job, but won’t do damage to surfaces that it touches. Additionally, our heat cable can be overlapped without concern. Heat Tape that is not self-regulating (i.e., ‘constant wattage’) can not do this (they have explicit warnings in the directions not to do this for risk of fire).
We have even witnessed a coil of crappy big box heat tape starting a fire because it got plugged in when it was still coiled. (Yikes!)
While the cable itself can be exposed to moisture you should keep the thermostat in a dry location.
The amount of heat cable needed for pipe freeze prevention is determined by a couple of simple factors including: Length of pipe, diameter of pipe, distance to power supply and number of valves.
Most of the time, we do not recommend a spiral cable application because it’s simply not necessary. It requires 3x the cable to do the same job.
Therefore, simply use a straight, single run of cable affixed to the bottom of the pipe (think 6 o’clock position) using the provided fiberglass installation tape. Next, add 1 foot of cable for every valve because you will be wrapping the valve with cable. For pipes less than 1″ in diameter, a single cable run is sufficient. For larger pipes, two cable runs are recommended. Keep in mind that plastic pipes are less thermally conductive so you may choose to use two cable runs on larger plastic pipes to be safe. Finally, if your outlet isn’t close to the pipe you are treating, factor in enough heat cable to reach your outlet (Pipe Freeze PRO does come with a 36″ power cord).
Finally, you must install insulation on your pipe and heat cable assembly in order for the system to operate effectively. See instructions for further details.
The terms heat cable, heat tape and heat trace are all used interchangeably to described heated cables used to protect pipes from freezing, preventing roof and gutter ice dams from forming and for safeguarding temperature sensitive components.
Other terms we’ve seen used regarding Heat Tape are:
Measuring the area of your roof that is affected by ice dams so you know how much heat tape to get is not overly complex, but it does have a few variables. Use our Heat Tape Measuring Guide to understand the process and print a worksheet that you can use to make sure you have all the right numbers.
Once you have all the measurements and considerations you need, use our Heat Tape Calculator to calculate the size of heat tape you should get.
