I've got a couple of questions regarding Roof and Gutter Cable.

• 
  Can Roof and Gutter cable be spliced? Some of the cables have gotten cut somehow
• reading the Safety precautions on one of the origional packages says the following:
  Quote

  GROUND all metal gutters and downspouts to 8 ft. driven ground even if downspout enters porcelain or non-metal drainage pipe

Bill

Bill,

I can't figure out what good those ground rods are going to do unless they get bonded to the buildings grounding electrode system.

I don't see anything in article 426 that prevents splicing. If the manufacturer makes a splice kit, then a splice would definitely be allowed 426-10

Visit the following for more http://raychem.broaddaylight.com/raychem/TFAQ9.shtm

Tom

[This message has been edited by Tom (edited 04-14-2001).]

Tom,

Thanks, I was wondering the same thing about the ground rods. It's mentioned twice on the package.

About the splice kit, These are Wrap-on cables. I can't seem to find any info on them online.

Bill

Bill,
I think this is just another example of a munufaturer that has no idea how electricl systems work. Grounding is not required here, but bonding is. As Tom stated a rod will not help any if there is a fault in the heat cable.
Does the wording in 426-3 about installing cord connected snow melting equipment per Article 422 mean that we don't have to provide GFP for the snow melting equipment as required by 426-28?
Don(resqcapt19)

Tom,

Those Raychem cables look much more sophisticated than the series resistive loop cables We have (Dad's house - He cut some with a hatchet chopping ice on the roof !!) They can be cut anywhere and I assume that the end just needs to be sealed somehow because the current flows across from wire to wire and is self regulating by temperature. They look like they'll save $$ with that feature instead of being Full on all the time like the old ones. So, Maybe we'll just get some new generation Raychems to replace instead of repairing old ones.

Don,

I agree with your comments, as a side note there's no UL mark on the packaging either.

Also, that's a bit confusing to me why Art 426 would refer to 422 like that.
??

Bill

Bill,

Be prepared to spend some serious $$$ on the Raychem. I've made a few installations & it is great stuff, but it is not inexpenseive.

Here's another site to try, I can't verify the quaulity, but I've seen it mentioned (favorably) by other electricians.
http://www.easyheat.com/roofgutter/

Good luck

Tom