How Much Roof Heat Tape Do I Need

This means that you should not install more than 190 feet of heat wire on a single 15a circuit.

How much roof heat tape do i need. Measure the length of your roof line. How much heat cable do i need to run the cable inside a downspout. This should give you a rough idea of the length of cable you need. If the end of the heat cable stops in the downspout use that measurement.

Calculate the length of heat tape and the number of roof clips and hangers needed for a heat tape installation to prevent ice dams. If the eave overhang is 12 inches deep multiply the roof line measurement determined in step 1 by 4. The most common heat tapes use either 2 watts per foot or 7 watts per foot and keep your water line from freezing down to an impressive 50f degrees. Multiply the gutter length by four if the eave is roughly one foot by five for a two foot eave and by six for a three foot eave.

You will start by determining the length of heat cable you need. If you choose to use heat tape pro xl add only the distance to power connection that is surplus of 50 feet so if you are 65 feet away put 15 for this. If your distance to power connection is longer then 15 feet you may want to consider our new heattape pro xl line of heat tape that includes an extra long cold lead on our industry leading heattape pro. Self regulating roof heat tape systems only draw the power they need to get the job done.

Measure the length of the downspout. Divide the roof edge length by 19 and round up to get the number of clips that you will need. There are 19 clips per pack. Operating costs are far greater than the higher quality self regulating roof heat tape systems we install every day because big box ice dam heat tape systems operate at 100 capacity all the time regardless of the outdoor temperatures.

Measure the depth of the eave overhang from the edge of the roof not the gutter straight back to the outside wall.