What is Heat Tape and How Does It Work? (And Do I Actually Need It?)
If icicles form along your roofline during the winter, this can be a sign of ice dams, which can actually cause damage to your roof and the interior of your home by causing leaks that damage the walls, ceilings, and insulation in your home.
How can you prevent icicles from forming on your roof? Having heat tape installed is an easy and effective way to prevent ice dams from forming and help melting snow drain off your roof correctly. And you can save up to $1025 with the discounts listed below!
- $500 Dry Roof Discount: Take $500 off if there’s no snow on your roof and we don’t have to defrost it in order to install the heat cable. It pays to be proactive - don’t wait!
- $75 Off Per 100 Feet of heat cable used: The average home can use up to 350’...that’s up to $225 off!
- Free Thermostat Control (value $300): Free temperature Sensor Switch with every 300’ of cable installed.
- Free Estimate & Second Opinion: When choosing a company, it’s important to have an electrician installing heat tape. If you’re a homeowner and want to know your options or just want to make sure you have all the information you need to make a decision you feel good about, call and schedule one of our licensed electricians to come to your home.
If you'd like to learn more about ice dams and heat tape, keep reading the article below!
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When making gingerbread houses in the wintertime, it’s perfectly adorable to have white frosting icicles hanging from the roofline. But when it comes to icicles hanging off your actual roof, they can be dangerous, unsightly, and potentially damaging to your roof and gutters, and can even cause leaks that could damage walls, ceilings, insulation, and more. So, how do you solve the winter icicle problem? How can you prevent these icicles from forming on your roof?
Well, in order to solve the problem, first you have to understand how these icicles form. They form when snow on the roof melts, collects, and then freezes in the gutters. The snow melts because heat rises from inside your home, warming the roof. However, the areas of your roof over the eaves remain cold, causing the melting snow to freeze. As this ice accumulates, it forms ice dams which prevent melting snow from draining off the roof. The dam grows as more water runs from the roof and freezes, creating ridges of ice that encourages icicles to form.
These icicles, which might look sparkly and lovely in the winter sunlight, could be hiding some dark secrets underneath. You see, when this melting snow reaches the dam of ice in the gutters of your home, the water is kept liquid by the warmth of the roof. Eventually, the water finds cracks in the roof covering and seeps into the attic, where it could damage the ceilings and interior walls.
Eventually, the water finds cracks in the roof covering and flows into the attic, where it could seep through the ceiling and interior walls.
1. Indoor heating rises through the ceiling into the attic and warms the roof surface.
2. Snow on the heated part of the roof melts and flows down until it reaches that part of the roof that is below 32°. Water freezes into an ice dam.
3. The dam grows as it is fed by melting snow above, but water held by the dam backs up and stays liquid.
4. Eventually, the water finds cracks in the roof covering and flows into the attic, where it could seep through the ceiling and interior walls.
Heat tape is an excellent way to prevent these ice dams from forming. The heat tape creates a boundary of warmth that keeps the snow near the gutters melted and draining properly. If you'd like to learn more, one of our licensed electricians can explain whether heat tape is a good idea for your home and give you a quote.
Author: Amber Smith-Johnson
Copyright © 2018 by Any Hour Services
Dec 1st 2017
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