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Easy Heat

Earl, I have used a similar heat tape made by Raytheon called winter guard wet. It has a extra layer of protection. I have used them in my troughs for over 20 years and have only had to replace the GFI unit inside the equipment room a couple of times but never the tape itself. I use it in 4 washes.
 
Here is what I use. Its called Raychem WinterGard Wet heat trace cable. Power consumption is just 6w per foot. Its self regulating and won't over heat. I just lay it in the trough and insulate the trough well. It keeps the trough a toasty 110°...Never had an issue with it. Been installed at least 5 years. I have it wired into a relay that energizes (At 32°) off the secondary output on my weepmizer. Works great!

https://www.pentairthermal.com/prod...ng/?id=tcm:432-27895&catid=tcm:432-17783-1024
 
I also use the Raychem wintergard, been in place 16-18 years or so.

I clicked on the link for the connection kit on the KR website, it doesnt really look like a connection kit to me - it just looks like a short heat tape. Coincidentally I bought a half dozen of that exact "connection kit" 10 years ago when I had a power failure and everything froze, I wanted to get additional heat on the manifolds & booms to thaw out as fast as possible. Didnt produce tons of heat, but definitely helped and they are still working, I left a couple of them in place for when I want to stay open when it is really cold & I want a little supplemental heat in the trough.
 
2BIZ and PLJ use the cable as I do. I use 6 inch pvc pipe for my troughs and large plastic electrical boxes for my overhead solenoid enclosures. I do not have it insulated and have never had a freeze in the troughs or boxes. I just had some -25 below nights and have had worse.
 
The Raychem Wintergard heat tape is really a good product. When I was a young man working for a living we used miles of Raychem Wintergard heat tape every winter.
 
I use the easy heat from kleen-rite in several places and have not had any issues with it. I have in in my trough, petwash, and have a house trailer that I rent out and use it under the trailer to keep the lines from freezing. I haven't had any freeze ups with -20 temps in past years.
 
Earl I bought mine at Zoro last year using a 20% discount code.
If you need any accessories for the connections make sure to order them then.
250 ft. Self Regulating Heating Cable, 120V
RAYCHEM| Zoro #: G2430976| Mfr #: H612250
 
JMMUSTANG said:
Earl I bought mine at Zoro last year using a 20% discount code.
If you need any accessories for the connections make sure to order them then.
250 ft. Self Regulating Heating Cable, 120V
RAYCHEM| Zoro #: G2430976| Mfr #: H612250
Click to expand...

What Accessories might that be? "Cable Plug in Cord Set"? Since I have 2 Bays on one side of the ER and six on the other I would likely have 2 different lengths, one for the 2 bay side and one for the 6 bay side. From the trough into the bay there is a 1" Pipe that the hose goes thru. (For both FB and HP/LP . Does anyone make a loop to drop down along side the hose thru that pipe?
I will probably stick with the hot water circulating loop and next fall go with the Ray Chem hooked to a solenoid on weepmizer output 2 as suggested.
 
Question....If you already have a circulating hot water loop in the trough, why switch?

I also have a loop in the trough from the floor heat. But there are times it gets below freezing at night where I don't turn on the floor heat. The Heat Tape always kicks on @ 32°. When the floor heat runs, its just a bonus!

If I had a constant temperature circulating loop running off a small 5 gallon water heater, I doubt I would use the heat cable. I would use a relay and pump wired into output 2 of the weepmiser for control...Since I already had the floor heat loop in the trough, I opted for the heat cable...
 
2Biz said:
Question....If you already have a circulating hot water loop in the trough, why switch?

QUOTE]

HAve a 40 Gallon Water heater. Don't know if it will make another season. Also have trouble with circulating Pump. Seem to get air in system and it won't circulate or overheats . So, If i have to replace water heater and pump....
Click to expand...
 
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