No. Not even close. 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.

No.

Heat tape cables should not be installed in any permanently hidden areas.

Good news. Heat Tape Pro and Pipe Freeze Pro are the only heat cables in the world you can see is working. The GlowCap™ is the LED end cap used to terminate all of our pre-terminated heat cables. If you see the green light glowing at the end of the cable, the cable is working. We also offer a GlowCap™ End Seal Kit for field assembled cable systems. Another quite obvious way of determining if your heat cable is working is to feel if it is warm.

Heat Tape Pro is our line of robust, outdoor rated cable. It’s designed specifically for the demands of extreme environments including wet locations such as outdoor pipes, open drain lines and of course roof and gutter de-icing applications.nnDo not use Pipe Freeze Pro as it is rated for dry locations only.

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.

How can it do this?

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.

Can’t I just accomplish this with constant wattage heat tape and a “switch” or thermostatic control?

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.

There’s also some safety considerations.

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.

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.

The short answer is NO. Self-regulating heat cable does not turn itself on and off automatically. To do that you need to put the cable on a switched circuit or outlet or on a controller. Of course, you can also be old-school about it and simply plug and unplug as needed.

“Self-Regulating” refers to the fact that these cables are temperature sensitive. Due to their construction, these cables sense changes in temperature along their entire length, demanding more power as temps fall and less when they rise.

PipeFreeeze Pro™, Pipe Freeze Protection Solution has a built in thermostatic switch, meaning it will turn on and off on it’s own.

Heat Tape Pro™, does not contain a built-in thermostatic controller. We recommend adding the ThermaCord™ Thermostatic controller to turn your Heat Tape PRO to turn the cable on and off with changes in temperature.