Fenix Trading s.r.o.

Heating cable circuits

An ideal protective measure is to provide the heating of eaves troughs and the heating of downpipes with the help of electric heating cables. For typical eaves troughs and downpipes (up to a diameter of 150 mm), a heating wattage of 30-40 W/m is installed; at higher altitudes approaching 1000 m above sea level 60 W/m and more is used (after the assessment of local conditions). It is more advantageous to use a cable with a lower wattage and install it into the eaves trough or downpipe twice or even three times (a larger surface is thus covered) rather than use a higher output cable and install only one core. Plastic grips or steel cables with grips are used for the attachment of the cable in eaves troughs and downpipes. It is also possible to protect roofs – roof valleys, edges of roofs etc. Here, the cable is usually installed in a so-called "saw-tooth configuration" with such a spacing that the surface wattage is ca. 200 W/m², and at least 250 W/m² at altitudes approaching 1000 m. The attachment of the cable on roofs is relatively problematic. Generally, it isn’t possible to make openings, solder or weld the coverings as doing this might damage the insulation boards under the covering. This problem is thus solved individually for each application – e.g. with the help of steel wires.

As in the case with the heating of open spaces, a suitable regulation system which not only monitors the temperature but also the presence of humidity is extremely important for roof applications. If the heating cable is controlled manually by the user and is brought into operation at a time when a thick layer of ice is already present, the cable will melt a cavity (tunnel) in the ice and thus create an air shell which behaves in the same way as thermal insulation. Even though the cable is in operation, the ice doesn’t melt and the application is basically non-functional.

We offer ADSV+ and ADPSV heating cables with protective braiding and UV protection for these applications.