Remote Manual Override Device (RCO)

Never cut the heating cable. A heating cable will not work if it has been cut. If the heating cable is too long, call WarmlyYours to consult with a technician who will guide you in utilizing the additional length of cable.

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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.

Solution:

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Yes. The manufacturer's splice that connects the heating element to the cold lead should be entirely embedded in a noncombustible material (like asphalt, concrete, or mortar) within the outdoor surface that is being heated. 

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GFEP 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.

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To 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". 

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Power 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

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If 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.

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To 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.

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The most common spacing for snow melting systems is 3“ from wire to wire. However, we can design snow melting systems based on your local climate and weather expectations that might have different cable spacings to ensure the most efficient system possible. We also offer snow melting mats with 3" and 4" spacing.

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In addition to showing the status of the snow/ice melting system and controlling the hold-on time, the RCO will turn on/off the heat for these controllers.

Note:  When the Heater Cycle switch is momentarily depressed, it will start a manual Heater Cycle for the Cycle Time setting.  Momentarily depressed while heaters are being operated by a Hold-On Timer or during manual Heater Cycle will end the Heater Cycle. Heater operation during snow conditions cannot be canceled in this manner.

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No, 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).

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Reflective 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.

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A 2 pole single-phase 240V circuit works by continuously monitoring the current flowing through both hot wires of the circuit. If it detects even a slight imbalance between the current on each hot wire (indicating a ground fault), it will quickly trip, cutting off power to the circuit. Essentially, it compares each leg of the 240V circuit and trips if they are not precisely equal.

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