Heat tape on Pex without water

[dsigno]

A guy put heat tape on some water pipes and wrapped spirals of it around a section of pex pipe that doesn’t have any water in it. Will that melt the pipe?

 

[sarg]

From the net = Pex is rated up to 180 - 200 degrees and heat tape does not exceed 110 degrees. The "guy" should put a thermostat connector between the power and heat tape. On at 35 degrees and off at 45. ( Why wrap an empty pipe is another question )

 

[Jeff Handy]

Those little thermostatic outlets are great.
I used them to control garden pond de-icers.
Just be advised, their life span is iffy.
I have had some last seven years, others only survive one or two winters.
You can test function by plugging in a low wattage lamp.

 

[sarg]

All the new do-dads are a benefit. Even when you discover them after they've been around for decades.
We've lived in the same mobile home on four acres since the eighties. Always worried about the well poly pipe that comes up through our slab freezing. We've never had frozen pipes but have always been concerned about it happening.
Had heat tape on it for years and then worried about it always being plugged in ......... then we found the Thermocubes and also found out you can buy heat tape with the thermostat included with an indication light for when it's tripped on. And then to top it off ....... This year we obtained the thermometers with the multiple remotes and found out that even in single digit temperatures the area with the water entry has never gone below 40 degrees .... so far.
Several decades of worry for nothing.