How to make the heating of tracks and steps heating cable?

Today you can completely get rid of such winter hassle as cleaning snow on the porch with a shovel. A modern street heating system for paths and steps will do everything for you. Of course, it is better to entrust the installation of the snow melting system to specialists who correctly calculate the power of the cable, choose the most suitable places for installing the sensors and, most importantly, make the heating economical. However, if you decide to install an electric heated floor on the street with your own hands, then we will provide the technology of laying the heating cable.

What are the advantages of the system?

Cable heating of open areas has long been used by most offices, shops and shopping centers that need a reputation. The advantage of laying a warm floor on the street is as follows:

  • The surface will be clean and dry all day.
  • Tiles, asphalt or natural stone will not be damaged by mechanical shoveling or, worse, scrap.
  • The absence of injuries, which is especially important, even if we consider a country house.

Track heating

The video below demonstrates the snow melting system in the area:

How track heating works

As you can see, it really makes sense to install a heating system for tracks and steps. The costs of laying a warm floor on the street will not be too high, in fact, like the energy consumption of the system, if everything is done correctly.

DIY styling technology

As we said earlier, you can make a warm floor on the street yourself if you know the technical aspects and the nuances of laying. The design of the snow melting system is not complicated. It includes the heating cable itself, a temperature regulator, humidity and precipitation sensors, a signal cable (for connecting sensors) and protective automation. As for the heating power, as a rule, for the street the calculation is reduced to 250-300 W / m2. In this regard, it is recommended to choose a conductor with a power of about 28 W / m.

Before proceeding with the installation of a warm floor, you need to carefully level the surface. After this, according to the manufacturer’s recommendations, you should lay the heating conductor and connect it to the network, sensors, protective automation. Further, depending on the situation, a concrete screed is poured onto which, after solidification, it is recommended to pour a layer of sand. At the very last moment, you need to move on to paving natural stone, tile or other suitable material.

Cable heating pie

You can also do without a screed by simply pouring a sand cushion 3-4 cm thick over a warm floor. If you still need to fill the screed, be sure to fix the heating cable on the street with a mounting tape, as shown in the photo below.

Mounting tape

The installation locations of the sensors are discussed in the attached instructions from the manufacturer. The thermostat itself needs to be installed in a room protected from precipitation and low temperatures. It is recommended to install the thermostat in the corridor.

Site heating scheme

When laying an electric heated floor on the street, be sure to consider an important point - the paving elements should not affect the cable. If you miss this moment, in the future the cable heating system of the site may be damaged. Its repair will be extremely problematic and by itself costly. One more nuance should be noted right there - if you decide to lay a warm floor on a sand cushion, make sure that there are no stones and other debris in the sand, because stones can damage the conductor under load.

If you need to make electric heating of the steps on the porch, the cable is laid according to the selected scheme with the same pitch over the entire area. After this, a concrete screed is poured, on top of which the paving of stone, tile or even marble is performed. By the way, an alternative heater in this case can be a thermomat or a tape. You can clearly see what constitutes the heating of steps on the street, you can on the diagrams and photos below:

Cable heating of steps

Thermomat layout

Components of heating

Simplified scheme

We also recommend watching the video installation instructions:

How to make snowmelt on the steps

Outdoor heating cable routing

That's the whole technology of laying a warm floor on the street with your own hands. As you can see, the installation of a street heating system for paths and steps is rather laborious. Nevertheless, we recommend giving this kind of work to specialists, many of whom will do everything inexpensively and quickly. Only in this case the site heating will be economical, safe and durable!

It will be useful to read:

How track heating works

How to make snowmelt on the steps

Outdoor heating cable routing

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3 comments

  • Andrew

    I read with interest the content of the article, naturally questions arose. Firstly, it is not clear which cable to use, resistive or self-regulating, what are the pros and cons of both. And yet, by analogy with a warm floor, there, so that the heat does not go down, but a heat-insulating gasket is laid under the cable, why is it different here? After all, the idea is the same?

    To answer
    • Admin

      Hello! As for the cable, it is better to use self-regulating. Although it is more expensive, it can have different temperatures in different areas, which makes it possible to make the heating of tracks more efficient and less energy-consuming. You can make thermal insulation by analogy, but it so happened that it is rarely used on the street. After all, a warm floor is used in a house for heating and it is important there to economically use the radiated heat, that is, direct it upward. And here they just use the cable to melt ice and snow, so they do not pay so much attention to heat loss.

      To answer
      • Max

        Self-regulating is suitable for the roof but not for steps and open areas. A resistive cable must be used. Our main goal is to avoid ice. and melt the snow. A self-regulator in a layer of tile glue heats itself up and ceases to give out the necessary power to thaw the ice crust, for example. Like that 😉

        To answer

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