Flexwatt/Heat tape??? Totally confused

[Wrath]

I was thinking of both these things, and that they were the same thing. But now I'm thinking they're not. Which one is used on plumbing pipes?

What are these two things? I was just going to get an undertank heater, but I don't understand what difference it will make or what's better. (Or where to get them for that matter)

Anyone?

[sSNAKESs.com]

Flexwatt is a brand of heat tape... Maylar is another brand... like tide and cheer :)

[sophia]

Heat tape is used on pipes to keep them from bursting in the winter when it freezes outside.

Tay

[rattekonigin]

Isn't the pipe heat tape a different kind? I vaguely remember seeing some news show about heat tape for pipes (the stuff was catching fire when it got wet) and it didn't look anything like the Flexwatt Heat Tape...

[Big Mike]

Flewwatt is a brand of heat tape as Jeff said. It is flat and therfore very usefull for reptile enclosures and the like. There are as many types of "heat tape" as one could imagine. For pipes it is usually called "heat tracing". In the process industry they use steam or glycol heat tracing as well as electric heat tracing to keep pipes from frezzing or to keep a certain temperature.

Flexwatt and other electrical resistance heaters just pass a current through an element that produces heat through electrical resistance.

UTH are easy because they come ready to go, out of the box. If you want to heat a large enclosure or many small ones (or if you just want to save some money) then you can make your own UTH out of Flexwatt heat tape. It will require you to wire it up your self.

[sophia]

Yes the pipe heat tape is very different and dangerous. I won't use it even on our pipes because it burned down my cousin's home one winter. They tried to claim that it was probably worn and old, but it had just been installed in the fall so we're sure it was a short!

Mike the reason I stated that about 'heat tape' is because he asked the difference between 'heat tape' specifically and 'flexwatt' in particular and there are some non-specific, non-name brands that call themselves heat tape out there in the home centers and those are just the kinds that burned down my cousin's house. Very nasty stuff.

We have the Flexwatt and love it. I need to check on this other name brand that Jeff mentioned.

How much do you guys know about 'pig blankets' and their relative costs and saftey issues? I've been thinking about getting those because I can pick them up at the feed mill in town, any thoughts?

Tay