I never paid much attention to these so I'm not too well educated on them. There are too many different types and brands out there and it's difficult to make a uneducated choice.
I called a couple companies only to find that the people I was talking to must have been in Bombay or some place similar as I had to struggle just to understand what they were saying and when they tried to answer my question it seemed that they were reading something off a cheat sheet that matched what was shown on their web site. So.......... as usual I find myself here where I can get first hand reliable and accurate information from people that have had real experience with these.
I've heard some people say they are worthless, or shorted out etc. Some say they work great.
Aside from what you zig-zag along the roof line and how far up you go probably depends of how much over hang you have. Also I imagine you have to run a separate wire along the inside of the gutter to melt a channel for the water to flow to the nearest downspout.
At first I was under the assumption I could buy like a 1000 ft. roll and run it continuous around the perimeter of my house, but wasn't sure how the power distribution would work with varying lengths.
So far I have found that most of these come in pre-made lengths of like 60 ft. Not sure if that is 60 ft. of wire or weather it means that it covers 60 linear ft. of roof line.
It looks like the pre-made lengths are made because of wattage related issues and current draw. Someone told me that a 20 amp 110v circuit would handle two 60 ft. runs without tripping a breaker.
So, anyone out there with first hand experience with any of these or can recommend a certain mfg.
JL...............
I called a couple companies only to find that the people I was talking to must have been in Bombay or some place similar as I had to struggle just to understand what they were saying and when they tried to answer my question it seemed that they were reading something off a cheat sheet that matched what was shown on their web site. So.......... as usual I find myself here where I can get first hand reliable and accurate information from people that have had real experience with these.
I've heard some people say they are worthless, or shorted out etc. Some say they work great.
Aside from what you zig-zag along the roof line and how far up you go probably depends of how much over hang you have. Also I imagine you have to run a separate wire along the inside of the gutter to melt a channel for the water to flow to the nearest downspout.
At first I was under the assumption I could buy like a 1000 ft. roll and run it continuous around the perimeter of my house, but wasn't sure how the power distribution would work with varying lengths.
So far I have found that most of these come in pre-made lengths of like 60 ft. Not sure if that is 60 ft. of wire or weather it means that it covers 60 linear ft. of roof line.
It looks like the pre-made lengths are made because of wattage related issues and current draw. Someone told me that a 20 amp 110v circuit would handle two 60 ft. runs without tripping a breaker.
So, anyone out there with first hand experience with any of these or can recommend a certain mfg.
JL...............
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