Heating Wire as replace to Heat Tape or UTH

[jwsporty]

Hey Folks,

I am planning on building a 12-16 unit rack system in the late summer and I would like your opinion on the use of heating wire. This stuff is normally used for de-icing snow and ice at the edge of a roof line. It is rated for 400 watts and runs on 4.2 amps. It is one hundred feet long and totally encased. It looks like a flat extension cord. I was given a couple of these and have since given one away. Has anyone had experience with this stuff. I understand it will have to be regulated because of it wattage rating but are there any negative effects from it use. As heat tape is not readily available in Canada (from what I understand )and doing a bunch of UTH could get REALLY expensive. Your views?

Thanks again

Jim