Electric Heat Tracing, Heat Tape or Surface Heating is a system used to maintain or raise the temperature of pipes and vessels using heat tracing cables.

Trace heating takes the form of an electrical heating element, run in physical contact along the length of a pipe. The pipe is usually covered with thermal insulation, to retain heat losses from the pipe. Heat generated by the element then maintains the temperature of the fluid. Trace heating may be used to protect pipes from freezing/to maintain a constant temperature in hot water systems/to maintain process temperatures for piping that transports substances which solidify at ambient temperatures. Electric Heat Tracing is commonly used around plants for temperature maintenance or freeze protection of pipework and vessels. We manufacture parallel-resistance, constant-wattage, self regulating cables which are convenient for in-plant applications.

In refineries, chemical plants, power plants, etc., offsite pipework can often involve longer pipe runs of a kilometres or more. We have developed our heating systems for this application, where the importance is often to be able to heat the pipeline from a single electrical supply, or supplies at pipe ends only. The Heat trace system is capable of single circuits of up to a few kilometres, and is a highly efficient system of proven reliability across many years.