M-D Building Products 64444 30-Foot Pipe Heating Cable Reviews

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I can recommend this product, but I had a problem that almost caused me to remove the heat tape with the insulation from my water line and return it, and that's not fun when it's cold outside. I wouldn't be surprised if some other people have had this problem, which is also a problem for the manufacturer and those selling the product. I assume the problem would exist with all of the other length heat tapes; they probably use this same thermostat.

After installing the heat tape and insulation, I wanted to make sure it was working OK. I could have done this by watching the pilot light when it got cold, but I decided to use the "Kill a Watt" meter that I had purchased at Amazon about a year ago. (I highly recommend that product. It's relatively cheap, about $21. You plug it into a wall socket and then plug an electic appliance into it and it tells you the volts, amps, watts, power factor, kilowatt hours, etc.) I plugged the electric heat tape into the meter and I could see when the heat tape turned on and the watts it was drawing. (It was 19 to 20 watts by the way.) For one thing, by using the meter I didn't have to go outside to see the pilot light. Actually the pilot light is underneath my mobile home.

The problem came when the temperature (where the heat tape was located) went down to a little below 30 degrees F on several occasions and the heat tape was not staying on. It was off quite a bit of the time. I wasn't anticipating that, and I thought the thermostat was probably defective. The instructions that came with the heat tape didn't prepare me for that. They mentioned some blinking for a while, but I thought the heat tape would be continuously on before the temperature dropped to 28 to 30 degrees.

I don't think the thermostat is defective, and you certainly don't need for the heat tape to be on continuously when it is something like 28 to 30 degrees, but like I said, my first thought was that the thermostat was defective. Apparently when the thermostat first kicks on and the temperature isn't quite a bit colder than 30 degrees the flow of electricity warms up the thermostat a little and it kicks off for a while again.

Fortunately I decided to monitor the heat tape for a while instead of removing it. Since then I have found that the colder it gets the more it stays on, and when it is cold enough it stays on all of the time. So far this year the temperature has dropped to 5 degree or so and I haven't had any problems with freezing water lines. Of course you have to insulate the water lines to recommended levels, remembering, for one thing, that this heat tape only uses some 19 to 20 watts. The 9 foot heat tape available in the local hardware stores uses 63 watts. I hope this note helps some people.

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I have a 110-year-old house with a flat roof. It's a beautiful old row house in the city. The problem with a flat roof -as everyone knows -is a lack of drainage. In wintertime, the area around the downspout collects water during the day when the sun is out and the surface (at least) freezes when the sun goes down. That causes a back-up of water and leaking down the interior walls. NOT A GOOD THING!!! This "heater" cable keeps things just warm enough to keep the water flowing down the spout and out of the house. It has a thermostat control which means it only uses electricity when the temperature dips below a certain level.

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I bought this product to keep the water hose coming into my RV from freezing. We are full-time RVers and spent this last winter at a place where it got cold enough to freeze the water hose coming into the RV. I know that this product is not recommended for this, but it worked for us. What we only found out after the got the product is the following:

What length tape do you need. I could not find this information anywhere so here it is:

For 1/2 inch copper pipe

30 inch cable for 22 to 27 inches of pipe

24 inch cable for 16 to 22 inches of pipe

18 inch cable for 13 to 16 inches of pipe

13 inch cable for 8 to 12 inches of pipe

9 inch cable for 6 to 8 inches of pipe

6 inch cable for 3 to 6 inches of pipe

3 inch cable for 2 to 3 inches of pipe

For 1/2 inch metal or plastic or 3/4 inch copper pipe

30 inch cable for 20 to 26 inches of pipe

24 inch cable for 16 to 21 inches of pipe

18 inch cable for 12 to 16 inches of pipe

13 inch cable for 8 to 11 inches of pipe

9 inch cable for 5 to 8 inches of pipe

6 inch cable for 3 to 5 inches of pipe

3 inch cable for 2 to 3 inches of pipe

For 3/4 inch metal or plastic or 1 inch copper pipe

30 inch cable for 18 to 25 inches of pipe

24 inch cable for 15 to 20 inches of pipe

18 inch cable for 11 to 15 inches of pipe

13 inch cable for 8 to 11 inches of pipe

9 inch cable for 5 to 8 inches of pipe

6 inch cable for 3 to 5 inches of pipe

3 inch cable for 2 to 3 inches of pipe

Also, be aware that you do have to put fiberglass insulation wrap on top of the tape.

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This pipe heat cable is a great buy and the quality is superior much better, heavier, than the ones that I have bought locally. I like the LED feature to tell me that it is operational. I use it on a 300 gallon stock tank used to raise fish for aquaponics. I will look for M-D Building Products in the future and recommend the pipe heating cable to everyone.

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I installed this tape two years ago to keep my pipe from freezing under our manufactured home in the chilly winter Cascade Mountains. It's performed with no problems. I like that it has a test light attached for piece of mind that it's operating. I had another heat tape before that failed in mid winter and the pipes froze. It is recommended to change out any heat tape every two to three years and inspect yearly. I keep an extra one on hand just in case but think this is a superior and well made product.