Heat Tape purchased in big-box stores is most often constant wattage heat tape. “Constant Wattage” means: it’s always on. It is always drawing full power and is costing you peak energy expenses, which –over the length of a season can add up huge. Thought you were saving money on that heat tape you got at that home improvement store? Guess again.
Radiant Solutions’ Heat Tape PRO™ heating cable is Self-Regulating. This means, as the temperature gets colder, the cable creates more heat by drawing more power and when it gets warmer it creates less heat by drawing less power. This allows you to consume only the energy you need to help protect your home from damage caused by the ice and cold.
The core of our ice dam heat tape is comprised of two bus wires encased in a material that is infused with carbon. As ambient temperatures decrease, the core material shrinks pulling the bus wires closer to each other, creating more electrical pathways through the carbon which makes the cables heat up. When ambient temperatures get warmer, the inner core expands and the cable demands less energy and creates less heat.
No, not really. Because any control or switch is still going to tell your constant wattage cable to be either off or on at 100% power. It is very binary. Conversely, Self-regulating Heat Tape will output variable temperatures based on the external, ambient temperature. So when it’s 31ºF or 10ºF constant wattage heat tape will always be on full heat, where self-regulating heat tape will only use just enough power to be at the temperature you need to prevent ice dams on the roof or frozen pipes around your property.
Among other things, constant wattage heat cable cannot be overlapped without creating risk of over heating or shorting out. It cannot be used under 15°F, it cannot be used on wood roofs, rubber roofs, metal roofs, or anything other than asphalt shingle roofs. You must clean combustibles such as leaves away from constant wattage cable throughout the operating season. The warranty on most constant wattage heat cable systems is no more than two years. Lastly, unlike self-regulating heat cable systems, constant wattage heat cables cannot be repaired in the field if they are damaged. One knick in the jacketing, and the cable is done.
Radiant Solutions has the most comprehensive installation system for Heat Tape that exists. We make accessories to install heat tape on almost any kind of roof.
Click here to learn about product specifically for Natural Cedar Roofs
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.
Installing our heat tape on your standing seam roof can be very effective in combating ice dam formation. There’s two main products used to install heat tape on your standing seam metal roof: The S-5 SR Heat Tape Clip, and the standard ice dam heat tape clip.
Installing Heat Tape on a Standing Seam Roof with the S-5 SR Heat Tape Clip
The S-5 Heat Tape Roof Clip is a new, patented roof clip design specifically for standing seam applications with a focus on ease of install and effectiveness. It is used in conjunction with the S-5 Base, which needs to be purchased separately. The S-5 base is designed to clamp onto the seam of a metal roof as the S-5 Clip holds your ice dam heat tape into position. Can be set up in a single or dual-clip configuration. (See product page for more info)
Installing Heat Tape on a Standing Seam Roof with Standard Roof Clips
There are specific ways/configurations used when installing heat tape on a standing seam / metal roof using standard heat tape clips. The following (2.6 – figure 16.0 & 17.0) shows a snippet of the HeatTape Pro installation manual showing two different clip configurations, more info can be found in the manual itself: Heat Tape Pro installation Manual
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.
Because our heat cable can be overlapped, there is no specific way to wrap valves. A simple loop of cable around the body of the valve will be enough. A couple things to remember. First, try to keep the cable in contact with the valve so the heat transfers effectively from the cable to the valve. Next, do your best to insulate the valve to protect it from the cold. This often means getting a little creative with the same insulation you use for the pipe. You can use a scissors to cut the insulation into one or more shapes and then secure those shapes to the valve with tape (duct tape works well). Speaking of tape, remember to use our fiberglass installation tape to secure the cable to the pipe.
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.
The cable can be exposed to wetness but the thermostat must stay dry to function properly. Use Pipe Freeze PRO for pipe freeze prevention applications only.
