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At Family Roofing, we take great pride in our experience, expertise, quality and customer service. It is our mission to provide excellent workmanship and complete customer satisfaction from start to completion of a project. Our reputation is based on service, safety and quality, regardless of how large or small the job.

 

Should You Install Gutter Heat Tape?

During the winter months, it’s not uncommon for snow and ice to build up on the roof and gutters of a home, often creating a high risk for structural damage, leaks and even accidents.  This can occur, especially, when gutters are clogged with leaves or other debris.  Ice dams are a particular concern because the water freezes in the gutters and valleys of the roof, allowing ice to build up under the surface.  As the ice grows, it expands, putting pressure on the roof shingles as well as on the gutters themselves, causing damage or even for them to fall.

While you may know cleaning your gutters in the fall is an important type of home maintenance, depending on where you live, that may not be enough to reduce the risk of ice dams occurring.  However, one solution is the use of heat tape.

Heat tape is a type of cable or cord that runs along the gutters and on the roof.  Within the cord are resistive heaters that warm just enough to keep ice from forming, reducing the likelihood that rain or snow will become a chunk of ice in your gutter.  Most heat tape products have a built-in thermostat that controls the heating cycles and temperature.  This doesn’t produce a high enough level of heat to create a risk of fire or melting, but just enough to keep the water fluid.  As electricity passes through the heaters, they warm up just enough to allow this to happen.

Heat tape works to prevent freezing within the gutters, which can be the ideal solution if you live in an area that’s likely to see fluctuations of warming and freezing over the season.  Used in this way, they can extend the lifespan of the gutters as well.  However, there are some limitations to these products, and they don’t always work.  For example, if the area has poor ventilation or bad insulation, this may not be enough to correct the underlying problem causing icicles and dams to form.  It may also not be beneficial in situations where there’s an excessive amount of snow, as it may make ice formation more likely to happen because the snow works as a type of cold insulation for the moisture, encouraging it to freeze.  Like all gutter repairs, it is best to turn to a professional if you are not sure what’s causing your gutters to freeze.

CONSIDERATION WHEN INSTALLING GUTTER HEATING SYSTEMS

While keeping your gutters warm is of overall benefit to your home, you do need to consider the following when you’re installing gutter heat:

• Are your gutters up for the challenge?  Damaged gutters can damage the heat tape, causing electrical shortages.  If your gutters are old and damaged, consider adding new gutters prior to adding a gutter heating system.

• Tape should not move over itself, as that can cause electrical hazards.  It should be installed by someone who is competent and experienced.

• Make sure that your home electrical system can handle the load.  That way, your gutter heat will continue to work without any troubles.  If needed, gutter heating systems can have their own electrical box so they don’t overload something like your kitchen electrical system.

  FEATURES

  Automatic sensors

  A heat cable for gutters may have a series of sensors built into it.  These measure the temperature and moisture in the area.  With these sensors in place, the heat cable turns itself off and on as needed.  This saves money, as it only draws power when there’s the potential of ice in the area.  With automatic sensors, you can leave the cable plugged in all the time and forget about it.

  Less expensive cables do not have automatic on/off switch sensors.  Instead, you plug in the cable when you want it to operate and unplug it when you want to stop passing heat through it.  These work fine, but it’s your responsibility to unplug the cable when temperatures warm and plug it back in when freezing temperatures return.

  Material safety

  Some heat cables may not be safe to use with certain materials, so you need to know the materials used in your roof, gutters, and downspouts.  Finally, check the rating for the cable in extremely low temperatures.  If the heat cable’s insulation layer may crack in low temperatures, it is not safe for you to use.

  For example, some pipe heating cables may market themselves as gutter deicing cables, too.  However, pipe heat tape is made for use in crawl spaces where it’s not exposed to the full winter elements.  Be careful about using this type of material to deice your gutters in locations where temperatures can be extremely low.

TIPS

As snow is warmed by the rising heat inside your home and melts on portions of the roof that are directly above your living area, the melt runs down the slanted roof . However, it may run into frozen snow and ice inside the gutter or on the eave, which doesn’t receive heat transferred from the living area.

If a part of your roof is in constant shadow, it may have thicker ice than areas of the roof that get some sunlight.  The thick ice blocks snowmelt from reaching the gutter.

With nowhere to go, the water refreezes and expands. The expanding ice may penetrate under your shingles or flashing.  As it melts again later, it can cause damage to your home, often resulting in a leaking ceiling.

Beyond making use of a heat cable, here are a few other ways to prevent problems from ice backing up on your roof or in your gutters.

• Remove leaves from the gutter.  Even though no one likes doing it, clean out your gutters, removing fallen leaves before the winter season.  If the gutters are clogged with leaves, the water cannot drain properly, creating large chunks of frozen ice in the gutters and further blocking snowmelt.

• Keep the downspout exit area flowing freely.  Once the water exits the downspout it should continue flowing away from the home.  You don’t want to block the exit area.  This can cause water to freeze at the immediate end of the downspout and hinder other water from exiting.

• Fix any loose shingles before winter.  If you have roof damage or loose shingles, ice dams may exploit these areas.  Try to fix any roof issues before the winter season begins.  Check the flashing, too, as ice dams can push flashing out of the way, creating areas for water to penetrate and leak into your home.