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[Haigskid]

Anybody ever tried running small diameter tubing on the eaves to melt off ice build up? My house has terrible ice build up in the winter and I was wondering if you could run a loop of say, 1/4" tubing along the edges of the roof like they do with the electrical ones you can buy and run the hot water from the return thru it to melt the ice ?

[jackel440]

Sounds like you may have a venting problem in your roof?
I would say you could do it ,but you would need to have it circulate 24/7 as to keep from freezing unless you have glycol in your system.

[RSI]

It should work fine but you would want to use a heat exchanger and put antifreeze (or oil might work instead) in it.
A side arm should work for the heat exchanger and be more than big enough.

[jackel440]

It should work fine but you would want to use a heat exchanger and put antifreeze (or oil might work instead) in it.
A side arm should work for the heat exchanger and be more than big enough.

wow I wasn't thinking out of the box.never thought to try oil in a line.would it have any issues with the pex line? A neat idea.That's why I love this site.

[muffin]

Would a pex line work very well?  They are inharantly insulative.  Perhaps this is OK since you are just looking for a little heat.  This seems like it would add a huge load to the furnace as it runs non-stop. 

Also, you might have to setup some zones, one loop might get to cold by the end.  Not sure how much roof edge you have.

[RSI]

I am not sure if pex would hold up with oil. I have run oil through it before but not extended periods. Rubber hose might be a better option.
Oil can carry more BTU's than water so you wouldn't need as large of pipes. I don't think it expands as much as water either but not sure about that.

The pipe getting cold by the end likely wouldn't be a problem. The ice would just melt at the beginning first. Once it is melted it will draw off less heat and eventually get to the end.

[willieG]

i would agree with jackall..before spending money on this adventure i would add vents and insulation to try and correct the problem. if you were to find where the heat is leaking out of the house  and causing your ice buildup  and correct this you would not need to melt it off the eave and you would need less btu's in the house as well. you could save wood instead of using more!