Pipe heat tracing

Pipe heat tracing for Edmonton homes, commercial buildings and parkades: design, cable installation, controls, insulation coordination and testing.

Which pipes need it

Any pipe carrying water through a space that can drop below freezing is a candidate. In Edmonton that is a long list: parkades, loading docks, crawlspaces, attics, exterior walls in older buildings, and lines that cross a cold garage or run outside.

• Domestic water lines in unheated parkades and crawlspaces
• Fire sprinkler mains and branch lines in cold areas
• Drain and condensate lines, including roof drain leaders
• Water lines to trailers, outbuildings and livestock waterers
• Holding tanks and their fill lines

Insulation alone only slows heat loss. When the water stops moving overnight or over a long weekend at -30 C, an insulated pipe will still freeze. Heat tracing replaces the heat that the insulation cannot hold in.

Designing it properly

Heat loss depends on pipe size, insulation thickness, the coldest expected temperature and wind exposure. From that, we choose a cable with enough output per metre, decide whether one run is enough or the pipe needs two, and add cable at every valve, flange and support that will draw heat away.

Circuit length matters too. Every cable type has a maximum run on a given breaker size, especially at cold start-up when self-regulating cable draws its highest current. Going past it causes nuisance trips on the coldest night of the year, which is exactly when you need it.

Sprinkler and critical lines

Fire sprinkler piping in cold areas needs extra care. Requirements for freeze protection of sprinkler systems come from the fire codes and sprinkler standards, and some systems need heat tracing that is monitored so a failure raises an alarm. We coordinate with your sprinkler contractor and the authority having jurisdiction so the heat tracing meets what they require.

For water lines that serve tenants, kitchens or processes, a monitored controller that alerts you to a tripped breaker or a failed cable is worth considering. Finding out from a text message is better than finding out from a flood.

Common problems we find on older systems

Many calls we get are not for new installs, but for systems that never quite worked. A few patterns come up again and again in Edmonton buildings.

• Cable run on top of the pipe instead of underneath, with no extra at valves.
• Insulation left open at fittings, so the pipe freezes at the same valve every year.
• Circuits too long for the breaker, tripping on cold start-up.
• Plug-in cable on a permanent line, often with no ground-fault protection.
• No labels, so nobody knows which breaker serves which pipe.

We can test, document and correct an existing installation, or replace it when that is the better value.

Installation and testing

We test the cable before it goes on the pipe, after it is installed, and again after insulation is closed up, using an insulation-resistance tester. That catches damage from a sharp edge or a staple before it becomes a ground fault in January.

Every power connection, splice and end seal uses the manufacturer's listed kit, made up exactly to instructions. Insulated pipes are labelled so the next trade knows there is live cable under the jacket. Circuits are labelled at the panel and controller, and you get a record of test values for future comparison.

Cost is driven by total pipe length, the number of valves and fittings, how much insulation needs removing and replacing, access (a ladder or a lift), the distance to a panel with space, and the controls. A short line in a crawlspace is a small job; a parkade full of sprinkler piping is a project.

Questions we hear