As the manufacturer we do not recommend using exension cords but we recognize that many customers do it. If you must use an extension cord, then buy the shortest cord necessary to do the job and make sure it is a 12 gauge thickness.
Heat Tape PRO can be use with any gutter system made, be it open, closed, metal, plastic, vertical or horizontal. Heat Tape PRO will work throughout the winter to keep an ice free path open for water so it can escape and move away from your home.
Keep in mind that if your home has ice dams in addition to ice in your gutters, you will want to install Heat Tape PRO on your roof to address that problem as well. Heat Cable in the gutters alone will not manage problematic ice on the roof surface.
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.
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)
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
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.
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:
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.
