Don’t get left in the cold

Okay, so it may not be time to pop the heating on yet and you can still get away with leaving your coat at home, but believe it or not, now is the time to start prepping your property for the winter!

In the next couple of month the weather will be turning dramatically colder, (depressing, we know). We are currently installing Trace heating and pipe protection for a variety of uses throughout the UK including preventing burst pipes. The majority of failing pipes in this country are caused by pipes bursting when frozen. We have a range of easy to install pipe protection for small domestic applications or larger commercial purposes!

We know it may not be at the top of your list of priorities at the moment, but now is the time to sort out these issues!

Here at cross we have pipe protection is for a number of applications including –

• Boiler condensate pipes

• Outdoor water supplies

• Water and waste pipes

• Irrigation systems

• Sprinkler systems

• Farm and animal water supplies

For larger domestic or commercial pipe protection requirements we supply the very best in trace heating. Trace heating cables provide focused and controllable heat to prevent pipes and gutters from freezing. Trace heating cables 'self regulate' their temperature so they cannot overheat. What’s more is that they can also be cut to length during installation to ensure the perfect fit!

There are many benefits of trace heating, which you can find in our blog post here. Here at Cross Electrical Ltd we design, manufacture, install and supply a complete range of heating cables suitable for every Trace heating application. Give us a call on – to find out more about how you can start preparing your home or commercial property for the cold months now! 

Prevent Downtime with Heat Tracing

By preparing for winter; processing plants, machinery and equipment means production can continue as normal through the season. Installing Cross Electrical heat tracing cables can avoid constant maintenance and improve machine efficiency and ultimately prevent downtime.

It is considered good practice to develop an action plan during cold snaps to assist in prioritising and managing problems. This could include anything from frozen pipes to the unavailability of staff during very bad weather conditions.

Investing in trace heating will mean that vulnerable parts of machinery and the plant itself stay operational during the cold weather by running an electrical current alongside pipes. These pipes are then coated in thermal protection to prevent heat escaping. This allows the hot water system to flow continually despite the weather.

Cross Electrical have a wide range of trace heating cables to suit a variety of frost protection applications. This also includes our own XSSTC, XHP, XSW and XEL heating cables that can be designed for many winterisation projects. Thermostatically controlled, the heating cables only ever energise when temperatures drop below a pre-configured figure, acting to prevent the disastrous consequences of winter.

The XHP family of fixed resistance, constant wattage heating cables is used for metal, plastic pipes and vessels. XHP heating cables can be designed for non-standard heating applications using any voltage from 6 to 415 volts. These cables provide fixed resistance; therefore circuit resistance can be tested periodically regardless of ambient or process temperatures and can be used on applications up to 280⁰C.

The XEL family of self-regulating, parallel circuit heating cables is used for frost protection of metal and plastic pipes and vessels. With the facility to cut on site to the required length, XEL heating cables provide a reliable heating solution to the problem of frozen pipework.

Cross Electrical can manufacture, design and install a complete trace heating system to solve any problems that future winters may cause and will ensure that your pipe work never freezes again.

Remember last winter? Frost protection

Remember the drastic temperatures and weather spouts of last winter? Since then, trace heating has since become a requirement in many homes across the UK.

Since then we are all too aware of the damage that frozen pipe work can cause to domestic homes after temperatures plummet below freezing including building damage, temporary blockages and inconveniences while pipes and ice thaws out, the same problems are also very prominent in industrial, commercial and agricultural environments.

Particular problems during last winter were caused by heating condensate pipes which caused boilers to shut down due to frozen pipe work between boilers and homes which ran externally to the properties.

Note: It is important to note that it is not always the freezing that causes the expensive consequences and outcome such as leaks, but the splits and cracks once the pipes thaw out that do causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and production lines.

We all know that a proactive approach is always better than a reactive approach, and this same system applies to frozen pipe work with the best prevention being to install trace heating cables onto all pipes which are likely to be exposed to the freezing conditions.

This can involve wrapping a cable to pipes which heats up when temperatures plummet below a certain temperature. We offer various trace heating cable options as Cross Electrical which can be tailored to suit your output levels and temperature requirements to ensure optimum levels of performance with less downtime.

Once pipes are wrapped with these cables, thermal insulation is then be applied to the pipes to further insulate and keep heat in equaling a very cheap and cost effective alternative to the consequence that frozen pipe work can bring to businesses and homes, as a barrier against freezing temperatures.

Cross Electrical can manufacture, design and install a complete trace heating system to solve any problems that future winters may cause and will ensure that your pipe work never freezes again.

Apply anywhere from outbuildings and outside taps through to garages and processing pipe work.