Ok Old Man Winter - I am ready! I replaced my heat tape today - boy did they do a real bad job when they re-did our water main. The Frostex cable had about a 12" section that the braid was gone!
Anyway, here is what I did - I bought new Frostex heat cable and a new end and plug kit. I got the old removed and saved the old foam pipe wrap tubes that they used for insulation. They only used 1/2" insulation before - according to the Frostex instructions that only protected me to 20 degrees. Here in Iowa it can get -20 with no problem what-so-ever.
So I got the new heat cable attached to the pex, replaced the 1/2" foam tubes and secured them to the pex and then I took 16"w x 2" thick x 48" long pieces of multi purpose fiberglass insulation and wrapped that around the pex/foam tubes. I then took heavy - 6 mil I think plastic and wrapped that around the fiberglass/foam/pex.
I used some cement blocks to elevate the water line assembly off the ground. I also used some foam pipe insulation tubes to insulate down into the crock. I placed the heat cable about 18" down into the crock and back up so the plug end was up and out of the crock. I plan on placing some fiberglass insualtion in the crock too.
So, it was not too bad of a job...I have a nice amount of insulation and according to Frostex's chart we should be protected down to -40 degress or more. I hope it does not get that cold!
It was raining out today, but it was nice and dry under the house - excpet for a few spots that the plastic in damaged - that is the next project Thanks to all for the tips I received!
Replaced Heat Tape - Now I am ready for winter :-)
Moderators: Greg, Mark, mhrAJ333, JD
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- Location: Waterloo, Iowa
I had been reading the instructions and brochures.....the more I read the more contradicting information I found One instruction sheet would say one thing and another would say something different - both for the same product. So, I hopefully got it done right I don't know what I would do without this forum or the internet! I have learned alot over the years here!
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