Heat tape ice maker line

travlingman

Well-known member
We are in Seiverville, TN and expecting freezing temps tonight, around 28. Have a stainless braided line to ice maker. I have a 6' heat tape and thinking of just running it along side the line and electrical taping it for the night. Tape might get up against some of the electrical lines that line is near. Don't see any issues with this, am I missing something.
 

travlingman

Well-known member
Not worried about main supply hose, have a Pirit if needed. Have Frost King heat tape but wondered about using it since it was braided ice maker supply. Put it on, no problems with that. Only line in area is gas line, doesn't appear to touch it.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
WARNING: Do not spiral cable around pipeor cross cable over itself. Do not use one
run of cable for two different pipe runs. Failure
to comply may result in overheating and fire.

Frost King (and others) sometimes warn about the possibility of excess heat. On 1/2" - 1" pipes, the heat normally gets dissipated by the water in the pipe. With a 1/4" braided line, there's not a lot of water to dissipate the heat. You might want to put some insulation in place so it doesn't heat your power lines.
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
Sorry, posted the wrong thread. At the bottom of the page are previous threads on the same topic. Might help.
 

travlingman

Well-known member
Didn't think of the line size and heat involved. Just went ahead and shut line off and used air compressor to blow out.
 

hoefler

Well-known member
When living in ours for 9 months, over the winter, I placed fibergass insulation across the bottom of the refridgerator inside the bottom vent. Stuffed it so air could still circulate through but closed it off around the water line and valve. We had temps in the single digits and still had the icemaker working.
 
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