pianotuna wrote:
Hi Westend,
Make 100% certain the heat tape is not overlapped anywhere. Houses burn down every year in artic Canada from improper DIY installations.
westend wrote:
Conventional roof and gutter heating cable is 5w/ft. I have a 60 length of it that I plan to install under my waste tank and against the drain piping. It won't have to run continuously in all but the most bitter cold. With an insulation board or pipe wrap and a sheet of aluminum between the heating tape and the outdoors, I'm thinking a duty cycle of 1/6 will keep the tanks and pipes from freezing.
My freshwater tank and supply piping is inside the cabin so no worries there.
Thanks, Don. That is a good reminder. I've installed a bit of this same heating cable in various deployments. Yes, it can and will make a lot of heat. I was able to melt a solid 4" gutter of ice within a few hours with this cable.
I plan to secure it onto an extruded polystyrene sheet with foil backing and around the ABS drain pipes. I will be doing some experiments before final install.
I also plan to have the heating cable inside an aluminum enclosure, thermostatically controlled to avoid tank contents from freezing. I hope I can either limit the current into the cable or operate it on a very low duty cycle. I may renege on using this 120V cable in favor of a 12V cable if I can get a good deal on the 12V.
