Roof Heat Tape

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mhayes

Member
When Installing Heat Tape On A Residential Roof, Can The Circuit Be Protected By A Gfci Circuit Breaker? I Have Always Used A Ground Fault Equipment Protection Circuit Breaker, However, Can't Find This In The Code Book And It's Very Costly.

Thanks,

Mike Hayes
 

al hildenbrand

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
The only difference between equipment protection and personel protection is the milliamp trip level of the ground fault detector.

The ~5 mA trip of a standard GFCI will trip more readily than the ~30 mA trip for equipment protection. The class A GFCI will be more sensitive.

May be desirable, may not.
 

raider1

Senior Member
Staff member
Location
Logan, Utah
Thanks But Is The Gfep Required By Code

Yes, take a look at 426.28

426.28 Equipment Protection. Ground-fault protection of equipment shall be provided for fixed outdoor electric de-icing and snow-melting equipment, except for equipment that employs mineral-insulated, metal-sheathed cable embedded in a noncombustible medium.

Chris
 

tom baker

First Chief Moderator
Staff member
Yes GFP is required. See 426.28. Then review the definition of ground fault protection of equipment. In my opinion a GFCI CB could be used, but it may nusiance trip. GFPE is an important for preventing fires from heat cable.
 

raider1

Senior Member
Staff member
Location
Logan, Utah
Section 426.28 requires Ground-fault protection of equipment, not Ground-fault Circuit Interrupter protection for personnel.

Another thing to look at is the listing instructions that are provided with the Heat Tape. 426.54 requires that cord and plug connected de-icing and snow-melt equipment be listed.

Chris
 

steve66

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
I also think GFCI may be subject to false tripping. The trip setting is lower, and GFCI devices usually specify a limit on the attached wire length. My guess is that your heat tape would probably excede this length.

Steve
 

DesertRat

Member
I can tell you from experience that a GFCI will give you nothing but nucience trips. When I was working service, I did several installs of gutter tape for a customer with multiple locations. The boss didn't like the price tag on the GFEP breakers, so he opted for the cheaper GFCI breakers. Wound up going back to every site and replacing the breakers with GFEP's after there were enough service calls to make the boss change his mind.
 

goldstar

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Just a suggestion : If you are installing GFI protection for deicing cable I would locate the actual GFI protection somewhere inside the house if you could or in a place that is readily accessible. That way, if it trips you don't have to go out in the ice or snow or put up a ladder to reset it.
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
heat tape

heat tape

I have an unique installation, I have 7 runs of 6 watt sheilded heat tape installed in 1" square stainless steel tubing on which a conveyor belt carrying ice cubes thru a drying blast tunnel, the installation is indoors under qualified maintaince supervision. I cannot find in the code anywhere covering this type of installation. It is not heating a pipe or vessel, and its not outdoor de-iceing. It is used to keep the conveyor belt from freezing to the skid supports, freezing to the skids could cause catastrophic damage to the plastic belt. The engineer is not calling for ground fault protection, but the manufacture of the heat tape is expressing a concern about this. Is heat tape failures that great that ground fault protection is always required? The heat tape is rated at 240 volts, but will be operated at 208 volts single phase.
 
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