Frost King Roof and Gutter Heating Cable

This will be a long story but you need to understand why in my case I used these. I was very reserved getting this but with the sudden forming of a ice damn that was allowing leaks into my kitchen that I've never had before it seemed worth a try. Indiana has just recovered from a couple of multiple day below zero episodes for the last two weeks with freezing rain and snow. We went from Zero to 30's and rain in less than 24 hours. I think that unusual temp change even for Indiana caused my problem. Installed the cables last week in a unusual day of 55 degrees. My roof is 2 years old and it was very tough to not rip the shingle tabs to install the clips. A older roof or a colder day would be very challenging. The cable was manageable but as others have said uncoil the whole roll as installing it will lay flat on the roof better. The instructions are good and helpful in figuring how high to make the runs and distance apart. The Clips are like RAZORS! wear gloves or you will regret it. With the clips installed its easy to run the cable . It took about 4 hours total but I was very anal in being careful with the shingles and measuring the clip distance. For the test Indiana didn't wait long Freezing rain, 4 inches or snow with below zero temps for a few days again set up the perfect storm again. When it warmed above 20 degrees I plugged them in. 12 hours later the pictures tell the story . They worked as advertised melting the ice and snow to the shingle. The roof has now completely melted and no problems inside. A few tips : This cable uses a lot of power about 1000 watts in this 200 foot cable. It will be costly to use so use it only when needed. It will not melt ice or snow under 20 degrees or so. Use at least a 14ga extension cord if you have to use one. A 16ga was warm after a few hours. My roof was 66 foot long and this 200 foot kit was only a foot short. You also need the gutter cable because without that you will have a ice filled gutter that can also do damage. In my pictures they are not installed yet. I had used ice melt in the gutter. I have ran a separate cable for my gutter. Most contractors don't like these because they don't fix the cause but do some research and in my case it seems worth the investment.