M-D Building Products 64428 18-Foot Pipe Heating Cable with Thermostat

Exactly what I wanted (and needed). Working perfectly, many days and nights have been below freezing here in upstate NY.

Works advertised

shipped fast....installed easy it a little time to do it, you must wrap the pipe over it. works great unfroze pipes in just a little while.

We purchased this heat tape and the insulation for it and installed it 9/2011. It is still working. The install was straight forward and not difficult. This recent purchase is a backup.This is a FOLLOWUP to my original review dated January 8, 2013. Heat tape installed 9/2011 has failed. Woke up early AM 1/21/2013 and pipes were frozen. We live in a 1992 moblie home, built for us and we have lived in it for 20 years. The original heat tape lasted us 15 years then failed. We a had it replaced by a heating contractor and that failed us within 2 years. That is when we replaced it ourselves with this product,now that has failed. Luckily I purchased a second one but I don't hold out much hope of that lasting very long. Will now go to hardware store to purchase a heat gun.FOLLOWUP #2 = Absolute garbage. Replaced heat tape with the one mentioned in last paragraph above, 2 weeks ago. It failed. Woke up this AM to frozen pipes.

Chart on the back gives recommended lengths for 1/2" to 1" pipes of various types.It worked good in < 0F temperatures on a much larger pipe when wrapped tighter together.I pre-calculated the tape length per each spiral by multiplying the pipe-diameter * 3.1459 (Pi)The number of spirals by taking the total pipe length and dividing that by the spacing desired (which I guessed at).Calculated length by taking number of spirals divided by length of each spiral.Added a foot and it worked out great. Did everything in inches and then converted to feet as the last step.

I am so happy to have this option compared to not having the use of running water in an outbuilding year round. I am not sure about the cost of using though. I know the old kind of heating cable were more prone to starting fires and expensive to run. I just got my electric bill which effectively doubled. I only got a 9 foot section of this stuff and hope the higher electric "shock" (pun intended) was a combination of other factors and not just the use of the product.My review is based on the promptness of the delivery and its doing its job.

We have had windy, cold weather that DID freeze the pipe to our outdoor-mounted tankless heater, but luckily we were able to thaw them without damage. This winter, we didn't have to worry that the pipe would freeze. Grateful that this product exists.

Have no idea whether the product works or not. I bought it based on the description and that description left out so many details that when I got the product I was unable to use it! Basically the instructions cover a lot of details not listed in the ad! Seek professional help with this stuff, or stick to buying locally so you can get the info you need before committing.