6 ft. Electric Water Pipe Heat Cable

My water pipes in Tx. have frozen several times already this winter so i installed this under my home myself (58 yr old female) using electrical tape. A easy install especially after watching the HD video. I tested it first to make sure the light worked before installing it, then i wrapped it with the Frost King insulation. This is a "NEED" if you live in a manufactured home because even my neighbor whose had a manufactured home for 20+ yrs has had to install 1 now.

Easy to install. Make sure you follow directions. Works great.

Got us through the polar Vortex with -25F temps, device on pipes on either side of water meter in garage, without freezing and without GFI it's plugged into tripping.

I recently (10/2016) purchased this cable in order to prevent two water pipes in an exterior wall from freezing as they have sometimes done in the past. In the last year I also installed pipe insulation however I didn't open the entire wall so I don't know how well insulated the pipe really is. The entire cable is very robust and quite thick and appears very well made. The cable is sold in several lengths and the instructions state that one cable should only be used on 1 pipe because of the risk of overheating. I purchased the 6 ft cable but after reading the instructions thought I should have two 3 ft cables instead. I didn't find any 3 ft cables for sale at HD or other stores so I installed the 6 ft cable anyway. This was the first of several installation problems. You are instructed NOT to install the cable inside a wall so I was restricted to the exposed cellar pipes. Next the instruction say to position the thermostat so that its disk is touching the pipe. As the disk is flat and the pipe is round it does NOT hug the pipe very well. As the disk is close to the plug it was difficult to position the disk because the cord was pressing against the subfloor above and only has limited flexibility. The thermostat will only trigger to go On at 38 degrees F or lower. Since my pipe is a long vertical run (25') I'm hoping that the freezing water will descend in the pipe and trigger the thermostat to go On and begin heating the cable and the water inside before the water at the top of the pipe freezes. Since the pipes run through the cellar those parts are not subject to freezing so I'm uncertain if this cable will actually trigger to start heating. The plug is equipped with an LED so you can determine if the unit is drawing power however as soon as you plug it in the light goes on so apparently the thermostat is drawing some power. What I need to know is if it is cold enough to trigger the cable to heat. I'll have to touch it to find out if the cable is heating. Because of the location of the two pipes I extended the one cable onto the other pipe for a short distance. The Cable has a strange square knob at its end which the instructions say nothing about. I'm hoping that this is simply some type of terminating feature and is not some other thermostat that might control the heating cable temperature. The plug comes with a warning label on it stating that GFCI MUST be used however the instructions contradict that and only recommend that a GFCI be used. The unit is sold without Insulation but the instructions recommend using Fiberglass wrap insulation followed by plastic wrap. That was another $6.50. I'm hoping that the insulation will help prevent the pipe from gaining too much warmth from the cellar to increase the likelihood of triggering ON. You are instructed NOT to have any part of the heating cable crossing or touching any other part nor are you to twist the cable around the pipe in a spiral. The cable can be doubled back on the side opposite if needed. On a small pipe in tight quarters all this cable is somewhat cumbersome. What I was really looking for was a low-cost heating element that I could position on or near the pipes that would constantly heat to a set temperature or with a variable temperature control. Last year I was using a light bulb however that isn't feasible this year. I did not find any other products at HD or online that serve this purpose. I won't know if this product helps me until further into the winter. Yet another maintenance item to keep track of in this old house.

Right size and power output for my application. Keeps the pressure sensor on my well from freezing up.

Very easy to install made the inspector happy

Used to slowly melt a hole through ice for a small sump pump hole in a window well. It takes hours to do this, but it works.

It works just like it was supposed to

Works good no broken pipe this year happy.

Forgot to let my water run during a freeze and ended up with no water. Solved my frozen pipe issue in under 20 minutes. Excellent purchase for quick solution!