When installing outdoor WarmlyYours snow melting cables for your driveway, patio, walkway, terrace, stairs, ramp, etc. - NEVER cross, overlap, or allow the heating cables to touch each other. Doing so will quickly cause a circuit failure due to excessive heat build up. Always follow the installation instructions and/or design layout plan to ensure the cable is installed with the correct spacing required for proper operation.
14 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoGFEP is the National Electric Code (NEC) required protection for fixed outdoor deicing and snow-melting equipment, which may be accomplished by using circuit breakers equipped with ground-fault equipment protection (GFEP) of 30 mA. It is important to understand that this required equipment protection is NOT the same as a 5 mA GFCI used for personal protection.
8 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoTo ensure optimal performance, snow melting heating elements should be installed so that they are consistently 2"-3" from the finished surface. For installations using pavers, the maximum thickness for pavers installed over heating elements is 2.5".
7 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoPower requirements are measured in Amps and based on three factors: the watts per sq. ft. of the snow melting cable or mat, the area powered and the voltage used for the application. Our product is rated at 50 watts per sq. ft., so that is a constant factor. Most snowmelt projects are powered with 240V AC – not all, but most. The one factor that is always variable is the area to be heated/powered. That is based on your project. For a point of reference, let’s use the example above of a 350 sq. ft. concrete patio.
The formula is (50 W/sq. ft. x area of 350 sq. ft.) / V (240V) = Amps, so 17,500 / 240V = 72.9 Amps
7 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoThe heating elements for a snow melting system typically will start at $9 ($11 CAD) per sq. ft. for Snow Melting Cables and $11 ($14 CAD) per sq. ft. for Snow Melting Mats. However, you'll also want to keep in mind the cost of a control, and if required, sensor/s for your snow melting system, which will add to the cost. Use our free Quote Builder to get an idea of how much a system would cost for your project.
5 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoIf a cable is damaged during installation, recheck the system for continuity and confirm the integrity of the insulation with a megohmmeter, or "megger" tester, referring to the installation and testing instructions. If the cable fails any of these tests, take the following actions: clear a 3 foot square working area around the damaged section of cable, and record the cable part number from the UL tag and the location where you purchased the product. Call WarmlyYours with the above information. WarmlyYours will provide further assistance and supply a splice kit suitable for repairing the particular cable.
3 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoTo calculate the system's approximate operating costs, multiply the total kilowatts of the system by the cost per kilowatt in your area. Let's use the example of a 350 sq. ft. of concrete patio (residential application), with 240 VAC.
Total Watts: multiply area in sq. ft. x 50 Watts
350 x 50 = 17,500 Total Watts
Kilowatts: (the unit in we purchase electricity) take the Total Watts and divide by 1000
17,500 Total Watts / 1000 = 17.5 Kilowatts.
Kilowatt Rate: use the national average of .12 cents per Kilowatt-hours so how much do we pay for 17.5 kWatts?
17.5 kW x .10 = $1.75 for every full hour of operation.
Hours of Operation: We use a typical 6 hour snowfall for our example.
$1.75 x 6 hours = $10.50 for that snowfall.
All of this will vary due to "after-run time". "After run time" is where the system remains on extra hours after the snow has completed falling, to ensure complete pavement snow melting and drying.
3 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoThe snow melting system is not operated by a thermostat, it is operated by either an automatic or manual controller. A snow melting controller does not maintain temperatures like an indoor thermostat does. An automatic snow melting controller only turns the snow melting system on when it detects precipitation and the temperature outdoors is below the set temp (typically 37.4°F / 3°C).
3 people found this helpful. Did you find this helpful? Yes NoNo, a sensor is not required with the snow melt system. However, certain automatic controllers require a temperature/moisture sensor to sense atmospheric conditions and may also require an in-slab, high temperature limit sensor to be installed (notably, asphalt installations).
Did you find this helpful? Yes NoReflective insulation is not effective with conductive heating, which is how embedded floor heating and snow-melting systems transfer heat. To be effective, the reflective insulation surface needs to face an air space (air gap), which allows the reflected heat to be redirected.
An effective solution considers the insulating material's R-Value. This is the rating of a material's insulating properties. The "R" stands for "resistance" and refers to the material's resistance to heat flow, or temperature conduction.
Did you find this helpful? Yes No