Easyheat roof De-Icing Cable for heating water lines????? advice please

[kylebosch808]

Hello, im trying to heat waterlines in my barn and i have priced out heat cables made for water lines and for 200 feet they want over $1800!! Im wondering if anyone has ever used the Easyheat Roof De-icing cables to heat water lines? any advice on how to heat a water line and water bowls without spending thousands of dollars. all my water bowls are automatic with float valves. I uploaded a picture of the cable.

 

[BeezFun]

I used roof heaters like that on a hot water heat line that went through an attic. I taped the wire to the bottom of the pipe (copper) and then put premade foam pipe insulation around it and wrapped that with the foil tape it comes with. The issue of course is how much capacity you need, without doing a bunch of calculations the easiest is to just try it. I don't recall that heater wire being very expensive, 200' shouldn't cost that much. The electricity to run it on the other hand was quite a bit. I installed horse waterers that don't need any heat or power for a valve, they're made for cold climates like yours, here's the web site: Drinking post

I posted a thread on my installation last fall, if you search my username on this forum you'll find it.

 

[ThomasH]

When I was putting heat tape on a pvc line, it was not necessary to put it on the entire line, rather it needed to be on about 15% of it, and then all of the pipe was well insulated with fiberglass and over-wrap. I used 3 each six foot sections, and had 20 or so foot sections in between. Worked like a champ, at least for the area (south east Tennessee) down to a steady -15 degrees or so.

I would research the heat tape a bit, I bet you don't need as much as you might think. I am sure what is required is dependent on the low temperatures that are expected, so your mileage may vary...

Good luck!

 

[radioman]

I am thinking that perhaps you might want to build a recirculating water circuit. As long the water is constantly moving- it will have less of chance to freeze.

 

[tcartwri]

We only had heat tape on the main line into the barn, and then everything else was gravity drained after use. If you need a constant supply of water this is obviously not going to work.