Heat Trace Controller

[steve66]

Does anyone offer a reasonably priced heat trace controller that will:

1. Turn off the heat trace when its warm enough its not needed.
2. Offer Ground fault Protection for Equipment as required by the NEC.
3. Give an alarm contact that closes when something is wrong. (IE: power lost, GFPE tripped, heat trace open, etc.) Basically, a just a warning before the pipe freezes.

This is for a simple water pipe freeze protection. So far searching the internet I've found chromalox and Raychem/Pentair, but I think those are going to be really expensive. It doesn't seem like this should cost $3000 for a simple heat trace controller.

 

[cadpoint]

Something like this? Here - (Automation Direct).

It sounds "Solo", even named Solo.

But, You have to remember what you need verses what each model offers.

$40 Dollors between Four Models not bad....

For ME, No Direct Point of Reference - other than the internet!

 

[don_resqcapt19]

... It doesn't seem like this should cost $3000 for a simple heat trace controller.

Raychem has one that will do everything you want for a lot less than $3k.

 

[tom baker]

I would use self regulating heat tape, then all you need is GFPE protection. I have a lot of short runs of heat tape and use GFCI as there is very little leakage.
Raychem is the product I use, they have a lot of good technical information

 

[steve66]

Something like this? Here - (Automation Direct).

It sounds "Solo", even named Solo.

But, You have to remember what you need verses what each model offers.

$40 Dollors between Four Models not bad....

For ME, No Direct Point of Reference - other than the internet!

The price is definitely right, but I was looking for something specifically made for heat trace.

Raychem has one that will do everything you want for a lot less than $3k.

Yes, that is the one I wound up specifying. It's a Pentair 910 (Pentair is a division of Raychem).

That's the one the one the contractor couldn't find a supplier for. But I finally found a supplier, and got a quote. It was right at $1000, for the controller. A little more than I was hoping for, but not crazy.

 

[steve66]

I would use self regulating heat tape, then all you need is GFPE protection. I have a lot of short runs of heat tape and use GFCI as there is very little leakage.
Raychem is the product I use, they have a lot of good technical information

Yes, I am using self regulating trace, but I still want to turn it off when its warm out. I don't think the power output of most self regulating trace cuts back much until it gets really hot. And this is for a cooling pipe, so I don't want to heat it unnecessarily.

And I want the alarm too. I don't trust heat trace much. In this application, it may be 10 or 15 years before its really needed to keep a pipe from freezing, and I think the odds of the maintenance dept. checking it every once in a while are pretty low.