When winter comes knocking at your door, it’s time to break out your cozy blankets, chunky sweaters, and holiday recipes. But with these blessings, you also have to prepare for the challenges of the weather.
One of these problems comes in the form of ice dams. These blocks of ice form at the edge of your roof and cause various damage to your property. Unless you use solutions such as an ice melt system, the problem stays intact and continues bringing harm to your roof.
That is why many homeowners and commercial property owners make it a point to learn a roof ice melt system. Through these solutions, you can get rid of ice dams, and prevent them from building up in the first place.
If you have to face the issue of ice dams every winter, learning how a roof ice melt system works can resolve your problems seamlessly. To help you through this process, here’s a lowdown on ice melt systems, their functionality, and their benefits.
If you want to prevent ice dams and have the right roof ice melt systems in the CO area, reach out to our team at HotEdge today. We can talk with you about your questions regarding a self-regulating heat cable, ice damage on your property, roof ice melt systems, and the elements of direct heat transfer. Our team has dealt with roof deicing, roof valleys, melted snow issues, problems with roof eaves, and water and ice damage.
Remember that our HotEdge system can serve as the best solution for the heavy snow season.
What is a Roof Ice Melt System?
A roof ice melt system is a specialized solution that aims to unfreeze ice dams along your roof’s edges and other freezing points of your roof. Through this approach, the solution saves you from literally breaking the ice and prevents you from damaging your roof as a result.
These ice melt systems are available in multiple forms. This typically includes the following.
- Roof edge panel systems.
- Roof heating cable systems.
- Roof tablets and liquids.
It is important to remember that the first two solutions work through electric power. On the other hand, roof tablets and liquids work via specialized chemicals.
How Does a Roof Ice Melt System Work?
How an ice melt system performs its function depends largely upon the type of solution it brings to the table. The following information outlines a breakdown of how different ice melt solutions get rid of ice dams from your roof.
Roof Edge Panel Systems
Roof edge panel systems are one of the most popular ways to remove and prevent ice dams. As their name suggests, these solutions come in the form of metal panels attached to the edge of your roof. These panels have heating cables running through them, attached to a central control system within your home or office building. Some solutions also offer additional panels for other problem areas.
Whenever ice dams are about to form on the edge of your roof, you can turn on the power of these panels and see the ice melt right at the end of the roof. This happens through the power of heating cables that make these panels warm and unfriendly for ice blocks. This stands as an ideal example of what is a roof ice melt system capable of doing for your property.
Roof Heating Cable Systems
Heating cable systems do not have any edge panels. Instead, they have heating cables that are run across the edge and other problem areas of your roof. When installed, these cables can attach to a central control panel in your home. This part makes them quite similar to roof edge panels.
After you turn on the heat, the cables warm their surrounding area and start melting down the blocks of ice. Once again, maintaining their similarity to roof edge panel systems, heating cables run the melted water down your gutter and downspout. This bids farewell to stubborn ice dams while also helping you prevent their formation throughout the winter. With that being said, these heating cables can sometimes damage your property and remain a bit ineffective compared to panel systems.
Roof Tablets and Liquids
When learning how a roof ice melt system work, you may also stumble upon ice melt tablets and liquids. Unlike solutions powered by heating cables, these manual systems harness the strength of chemicals to melt ice blocks. As a result, they do not need electricity or installation but require you to pour them topically over ice dams.
Since you have to repeat the process manually, this provides you with a lengthier and redundant way to melt ice dams. With that being said, the solution does come with short-term affordability, which makes it appealing to many homeowners and commercial property owners. On the other hand, they can rack up your overtime costs and sometimes leave stains and marks on your roof. This makes them a challenging solution to use for ice dams.
Which Roof Ice Melt System is the Best?
In terms of convenience and functionality, it remains remarkable to learn what a roof ice melt system can achieve through electric power. However, you have to ensure that the heating cables being used are self-regulated for energy efficiency and safe to use to prevent damage and injury. In many cases, roof edge panel solutions perform better than heating cables alone.
But if you are going for short-term accessibility, you can also use manual or chemical-based systems. You need to be careful about their excessive use and the harm they can do to your roof.
At HotEdge, our solutions offer highly-competitive ice melt systems in [Area]. Whether you are working on a budget or need ideal efficacy, our solutions can fit all your needs perfectly.
To see how our ice melt systems can help, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free quote and consultation today. We will be glad to understand your concerns and find the perfect ice melt solution for you.
