10 ms·
Heat tape isn't very effective with storms dropping multiple feet of wet snow in under 24 hours (or in general).
by eysquared 23d ago
Heat tape isn't very effective with storms dropping multiple feet of wet snow in under 24 hours (or in general).
- dalyons 23d agowell it just has to stop significant buildup over multiple days right? IDK, seems pretty effective here in tahoe where ive seen it applied on parts of peoples houses
- dalyons 23d agoalso idk, tons of people up here have regular sheds for various purposes and they seem to survive just fine
- dave78 23d agoDo people in Tahoe heat-tape their whole roof or just the edge where ice dams would otherwise form? I've only ever seen the latter, and even doing that will be noticeable on your power bill.
- dalyons 22d agoYeah it’s usually just 3-6ft on the edges of the roof. But this whole roof is tiny. Covering a 12x12 roof would be much less than one edge run on a big house . Also they only turn on when there’s actual snow falling so doesn’t use as much power as you might think
- niwtsol 23d agowoof, where are you located, coastal/northern Canada?
- eysquared 23d agoCascade mountains. I've seen over 5 feet of snow in under 48 hours, then freezing rain. Its heavy! Lots of these "it'll be fine" type structures collapsed. Building code for snow load is a factor of location and elevation here. We are around 130 lb/sq ft. Roof pitch can help with shedding, but then you've got other problems (roof avalanches can and do kill, not to mention snow up against materials that don't want to be wet all winter).
- cucumber3732842 22d ago> We are around 130 lb/sq ft That's not too bad, that's just a floor (and that's for a flat roof, it gets less demanding with pitch).