Intelligent cables

Trace Heating cables are significantly more intelligent than 'standard' heating cables. They are created by placing a self-regulating heating element between two bus wires, one live and one neutral. When power is connected to these bus wires the heating element receives 230V, causing it to heat up. Each element contains specialist compounds that change their resistance depending on their temperature, which leads to the power output of the heating element falling as the cable gets warmer.

Targeted heat

Trace Heating cables vary their output, centimetre by centimetre along the cable, depending on the temperature of the self-regulating heating element. If you used a 17W/lm Trace Heating cable to protect a 20m long water pipe, and half of the pipe was indoors and insulated, and half was outdoors and uninsulated, the cable on the two different sections would react very differently. The heating cable on the indoor section would quickly warm up to perhaps 20°C, and its output would fall to around 8W per metre, as it does not need to heat as much to maintain the pipe's temperature. If it is very cold outside, the cable there may never be able to heat the pipe above 5°C, and the cable will therefore maintain its output at 17W per metre; as this is the amount of energy it needs to use to protect the pipe from freezing. It is this clever feature that makes Trace Heating such a versatile product. Being able to vary its output centimetre by centimetre along its length depending on local temperature conditions is an incredibly useful feature.

Finding the correct cable for the application

The relationship between the temperature of the element and its wattage output is set in the factory and cannot be changed once the cable has been produced. It is important to choose the correct heating cable for a project, to ensure the system runs in the most energy-efficient manner possible. However it is also possible to run more than one cable along a pipe, or to spiral the cable around the pipe to obtain the desired output.

Protection from overheating cables

As the Trace Heating cables lower their wattage output as they heat up, in normal circumstances the cables can be crossed over on top of each other and there is no chance that they will burn out or overheat. This allows particularly cold areas such as taps, joints, or tanks to have multiple layers of Trace Heating without risking damaged cables; in direct contrast to constant Wattage heating cables, which cannot be crossed over without risking damage.

Ready-made trace heating lengths

In addition to cut-to-length Trace Heating, Heat Mat offers pre-made lengths of 11W/lm heating cable, suitable for use within pressured water pipes to prevent them from freezing. The lengths benefit from having a cold tail lead and final termination made in the factory, which saves on installation time, and can be introduced into the pipe via a specialist brass gland. These units can also be used to protect boiler condensate pipes from freezing.

Thermostats and junction boxes

Heat Mat supplies a wide variety of thermostats and junction boxes, designed for use with cut-to-length Trace Heating. These items are all supplied with IP65 rated enclosures to resist moisture ingress and they can be supplied with metal brackets to affix them on top of pipes.