Review on 🔥 EasyHeat 2102 Freeze-Free Heating Cable - 100 Inches by Dusty Oner

I did a lot of research on different heating cable systems and this product gave me the best value for money. Here are a few things I learned from my setup. I did not install the heating cable myself, so when I say "I" in this review, I mean my installer. I ran 240 feet of this heating cable under the basement of a vacation home in the White Mountains of northern Arizona. This heating cable allows me to turn off the water instead of draining the pipes so I can just turn on the water when I want to visit in the winter. A few notes about my setup: 1. If you need about 300ft of cable, buy a 300ft reel. The maximum single distance is 75 feet. I had a few 25-30 foot sections left that I couldn't use because of the 100 foot drum. For longer runs, I measured 75 feet and put marker tape on to let me know when I'd reached my max length. I wanted to keep the number of heating cable circuits to a minimum so each run was nearly 75 feet long.2. It is recommended to use high quality electrical tape and not the electrical tape recommended by the manufacturer. I spiral wrapped the ribbon to avoid cutting it to the desired length, which saves time.3. Even if the temperature is not below freezing, this heating cable is still on. We recommend using the thermostat plug to turn it off and save power when not needed.4. Be careful when calculating the power requirements of the circuit. The heating cable chart for my region states that the power consumption is 3W/ft. But this thermal cable has a much higher starting current. My stationary circuit requirement is 720W (6A) at 50 degrees (3W/ft * 240ft). But for the first few minutes, the maximum cable draw was 1440W (12A) or 6W/ft. Once the temperature gets much lower, this starting current can be higher. I'm testing it this winter so I'll know better in January when it gets really cold.4. For my setup I was able to mount it under a pipe that wasn't wrapped. But in some installations where the hot and cold copper pipes are very close together I don't see why the heating cable can't be wrapped around the hot and cold pipes to make the installation easier. I wrapped insulation around both pipes where they were close enough to do this. Other reviewers have suggested a monitoring device to ensure the heating cable is working. I'm a bit of a geek so I developed my own and now measure the temperature of each heating cable circuit. It sends me a warning SMS if any of the pipes reach freezing temperature. Installation is not trivial if you work under crawling. It took a week to complete, including electrics, thermostat, wiring, insulation and remote monitoring. But that's not rocket science, it's a lot of time on your back in a confined space. Update December 2018:. As expected, 240 feet of heating cable tripped a 15 amp breaker when starting on a cold day. That's more than 7 W/ft. Update October 2019: I've added a controller that not only includes a thermostat but also offers an 8 minute soft start for the heating cable. I will test in winter. Also moving to a 20A circuit October 2020 update: After testing an 8 minute soft start controller I found that my cable's total inrush current is 20 amps AC at near zero temperatures. This means that the components I chose for the soft start were underestimated. I abandoned this simple design in favor of a more complex one where the thermostat controls the heating cable between 35 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also set a switch-on delay. So if you have multiple circuits like me, I have a fourth, you can prevent them from turning on at the same time. I have 270 feet of heating cable connected to a 30 amp circuit that is split into two 15 amp circuits each with two heating cable systems. Real overkill when you consider what you can do with the right thermostat/controller. I'm testing my prototype in winter, maybe I'll have more results in March 2021.