Gutter Heaters

[ch33zw1z]

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Yep, that was mentioned a few posts ago by Ironic. It does work, for a bit. And I may end up doing that again. The problem is that it's not a long term solution. As in, the salt does get used, and you may have to do it again.

Regardless, it does work and is good in a pinch.

If only I didn't have to work, then I could roof rake everytime it snowed

 

[Vdubchaos]

My gutters freeze and have ice build up but that doesn't have much effect on my house (no leaks or water around the house).

I'm just curious, what issues are you experiencing to cause you to get Gutter heater?

 

[ch33zw1z]

My gutters freeze and have ice build up but that doesn't have much effect on my house (no leaks or water around the house).

I'm just curious, what issues are you experiencing to cause you to get Gutter heater?

Water drainiage not at full capacity, ice damns taller than gutter, ice cicles forming on rear side of gutters. and small cicles forming under the front edge of soffets.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You should check your attic ventilation, make sure there are baffles that lead to the soffits, and that the soffits actually let air in. If your house is older it could be it has plywood under the actual soffit metal. May have to remove it then saw an opening.

Fixed mine a year back and I don't get any icicles anymore. Well, I get some if we get a heat wave where snow starts to melt a bit, but not more than that. Not a single one on the house right now. I used to get tons of them.

 

[slag]

Our neighbor has the leaf guards installed and loves them. There are different solutions, all called leaf guards, leaf gutters, etc, and differ in their installation and approach. We have oak, maple, and cottonwood trees in the area and it stops his gutters from getting junk in them.

I'm going to go with the company he did because it just plain works well.

 

[highland145]

Our neighbor has the leaf guards installed and loves them. There are different solutions, all called leaf guards, leaf gutters, etc, and differ in their installation and approach. We have oak, maple, and cottonwood trees in the area and it stops his gutters from getting junk in them.

I'm going to go with the company he did because it just plain works well.

Commercial size gutters with the screens. Oaks, hickories. Problem fixed.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Water drainiage not at full capacity, ice damns taller than gutter, ice cicles forming on rear side of gutters. and small cicles forming under the front edge of soffets.

As long as water doesn't get inside your house, who cares?

Gutters = divert water away from your house.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

 

[ch33zw1z]

As long as water doesn't get inside your house, who cares?

Gutters = divert water away from your house.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

by the time it reaches the inside of your house, it's too late and you're on clean up duty. The real problem is the amount of snow still on the roof, it's going to melt down to the gutters also. And whatever other snow decides to fall in the next month or so.

I'm just trying to get a feel for what others do. I see some houses with the roof edge heaters, just wondering if anyone here uses them and which they use. I was thinking i'd only need the gutter heaters, but I may just go for the roof edge heaters also.

 

[Gillbot]

Yeah, basically heat escaping from the roof melts the snow, the water flows down under the snowpack and then refreezes when it hits the gutter.

I don't think vents will help, mainly because I have a ridge vent and soffet vents and I still have this problem. What you want is for the roof to be cold, but it's pretty hard to keep heat out of the attic. In our case we have good insulation, but the second story ceiling is pierced by a whole house fan, an intake/filter for the AC air handler, and a fold-down stairway. I build an insulated box that caps the stairway hole, but the other two are impossible to insulate, so we still get a lot of heat escaping up there.

No experience with gutter heaters. Every time I look into them I end up deciding they would be more trouble than they are worth.

I haven't bothered myself because I think the heaters would be a pain as well.

I don't think it's all heat loss causing melt though. My issue is, after I rake, the sun heats up the shingles and causes melt.

 

[*kjm]

I haven't bothered myself because I think the heaters would be a pain as well.

I don't think it's all heat loss causing melt though. My issue is, after I rake, the sun heats up the shingles and causes melt.

Same here only thing is if you don't rake it would be worse. The only thing you can do is rake up the roof higher or get a metal roof and the ice will come down in sheets.... the sheets are broke up by a v shaped spike they glue to the roof to break them into small pieces. For home I got a longer rake and for up north I got a metal roof.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

You should check your attic ventilation, make sure there are baffles that lead to the soffits, and that the soffits actually let air in. If your house is older it could be it has plywood under the actual soffit metal. May have to remove it then saw an opening.

Fixed mine a year back and I don't get any icicles anymore. Well, I get some if we get a heat wave where snow starts to melt a bit, but not more than that. Not a single one on the house right now. I used to get tons of them.

This. If you are getting any ice dam at all you need to fix your soffit/roof ventilation. Ice dams are hell on shingles. You need to fix the roof ventilation yo stop this from happening. Baffles in your rafter bays going down to your soffit and about 2 feet of blown in insulation in the attic is the proper way to solve the issue.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What exactly do you mean by rake? Do you rake snow off the roof? If the shingles are being exposed that could explain some of the ice as even on a cold day they might actually get hot enough to melt snow a bit if the sun comes out. The problem with this is that it's a rather localized heat so it turns into ice right away. Just guessing though.

 

[Markbnj]

I haven't bothered myself because I think the heaters would be a pain as well.

I don't think it's all heat loss causing melt though. My issue is, after I rake, the sun heats up the shingles and causes melt.

I'm rethinking my earlier statement. I talked through this with my dad and then took a more critical look at the vents our roofer put in a few years back. We have a ridge vent, but there are very few soffet vents. He basically used these 3" round numbers, and put three per side. My dad doesn't think that's near enough and I agree with him. I'm going to have the plywood replaced with perforated aluminum this spring.

In a nutshell my dad's point is that the soffet vents need to admit enough cold air as heat escapes the ridge vents, to keep drawing outside air at ambient temp across the underside of the roof.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I'm rethinking my earlier statement. I talked through this with my dad and then took a more critical look at the vents our roofer put in a few years back. We have a ridge vent, but there are very few soffet vents. He basically used these 3" round numbers, and put three per side. My dad doesn't think that's near enough and I agree with him. I'm going to have the plywood replaced with perforated aluminum this spring.

In a nutshell my dad's point is that the soffet vents need to admit enough cold air as heat escapes the ridge vents, to keep drawing outside air at ambient temp across the underside of the roof.

In a modern home the entire soffit is vented. The inside of your attic should match the temperature outside.

 

[SNC]

The proper way to stop ice is to vent the roof correctly. Spending money on heat tape only wastes time, money and energy.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Ok guys, I'll check out my venting situation too.

 

[Kaido]

Bylin has the right dope:

http://www.bylinusa.com/

 

[Markbnj]

Agreed. I need to get this fixed as soon as the weather permits.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Sooner rather than later is best when it comes to roof venting. If it's not properly vented you can drastically reduce the lifetime of your shingles, and replacing the entire roof is not cheap. Why do it more than every 20+ years if you don't have to?

 

[Markbnj]

Sooner rather than later is best when it comes to roof venting. If it's not properly vented you can drastically reduce the lifetime of your shingles, and replacing the entire roof is not cheap. Why do it more than every 20+ years if you don't have to?

The roof is six or seven years old. Fortunately this kind of weather is a rare thing in New Jersey. We get ice storms, but don't often get thick snowpack like we have this year. So this is maybe the second time I've seen this condition develop. We'll get it straightened out as soon as possible.

 

[Gillbot]

I'm rethinking my earlier statement. I talked through this with my dad and then took a more critical look at the vents our roofer put in a few years back. We have a ridge vent, but there are very few soffet vents. He basically used these 3" round numbers, and put three per side. My dad doesn't think that's near enough and I agree with him. I'm going to have the plywood replaced with perforated aluminum this spring.

In a nutshell my dad's point is that the soffet vents need to admit enough cold air as heat escapes the ridge vents, to keep drawing outside air at ambient temp across the underside of the roof.

I'm sure my roof and venting needs work, but for the few times I do get ice jams the cost isn't worth it. Sadly this time it was because I was away for work and my wife has no idea why I scrape the snow from the roof.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I'm sure my roof and venting needs work, but for the few times I do get ice jams the cost isn't worth it. Sadly this time it was because I was away for work and my wife has no idea why I scrape the snow from the roof.

I was raking the snow on my roof in one bad area, but it didn't help much because we got a dose of sleet/freezing rain that turned to ice and was then covered with snow. As a result, I have a roof leak that has hit the ceiling but fortunately, it is in my garage. There's a corner of my house (where the garage meets the house) where a large ice dam formed and it is really a mess, with ice in the gutters and a stream of ice down and over one sliding glass door, which it derailed and I'll have to try to fix it when the ice melts a little today. We're supposed to be in the 40s and low 50s for the next few days so hopefully most of the crap melts.

Before we got this latest snow, I had someone look at my roof and it looks like it is time for a replacement due to storm damage. I'm hoping insurance will cover some or all of it, but regardless, it is getting replaced and the small spot on my garage ceiling is getting repaired. Unfinished issues like this drive me nuts.

 

[sdifox]

I was raking the snow on my roof in one bad area, but it didn't help much because we got a dose of sleet/freezing rain that turned to ice and was then covered with snow. As a result, I have a roof leak that has hit the ceiling but fortunately, it is in my garage. There's a corner of my house (where the garage meets the house) where a large ice dam formed and it is really a mess, with ice in the gutters and a stream of ice down and over one sliding glass door, which it derailed and I'll have to try to fix it when the ice melts a little today. We're supposed to be in the 40s and low 50s for the next few days so hopefully most of the crap melts.

Before we got this latest snow, I had someone look at my roof and it looks like it is time for a replacement due to storm damage. I'm hoping insurance will cover some or all of it, but regardless, it is getting replaced and the small spot on my garage ceiling is getting repaired. Unfinished issues like this drive me nuts.

May as well install solar panel :whiste:

 

[*kjm]

What exactly do you mean by rake?

Raking is just using a roof shovel... rake.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...i_sku=500704&gclid=CID5hrX01bwCFSbxOgode1UA0g

 

[IndyColtsFan]

May as well install solar panel :whiste:

I'm going to have to do something. I'm hoping the ice dam melts today or at a minimum, weakens enough to where I can hit it with a hoe a few times and break it up.