Very cool and much more geeky than my solution would be. (An X10 module and transmitter run by a cron script on a server. Take the outside temp from someplace local like a 1-wire weather unit and turn on as necessary.)

An elegant solution, though it’d be interesting to work out how long it would take to “repay the environmental damage” caused by ic manufacture, energy used to make parts etc. It may well be this still saves energy overall, I have no idea how one would calculate this.

Thing is, even if he didn’t make this, the parts were still produced (and in a warehouse somewhere), so it’s really kind of pointless to take into account the energy used to make the IC, etc. it was already made anyways. Plus, things like that are made in such large volumes that the energy required to produce one unit is extremely small. Yay for saving energy and not freezing pipes!

most people would just leave a faucet dripping.

cever hack though.

Solve it any way you want to, but I’ve bought heat tape that came from the store with an indicator light and a thermostat (most likely a bi-metal strip that cycles on and off depending on the temp of the copper pipe it was in contact with)

Maybe there was some reason he didn’t just do that?

Maybe the built-in one cycled at too high a temp?

There are off the shelf solutions for this that are plug and forget for under USD$20. They’re even electronic, not the old bimetal strip. And for around $40 you can get a fully programmable thermostatically controlled outlet with daily time zones and all that jazz; I use one to turn on heat lamps for my outdoor birds when it gets under 50F.

This is a nice idea for someone with some time.
I bought a Walmart yard stick outlet timer used for Christmas lights. Then I wrapped a pipe as well as a few plants with lights so they would not die. They even melt snow.

He said he “acquired” some heat cable…It was probably a piece of bulk cable from a plumber.They don’t come with thermostats built in so he built one…and added some other features I love it personally

I did something like this, only I used the Analog Devices TMP03/TMP04. Outputs a variable duty cycle signal, with ‘high’ of the signal proportional to temperature. – no need to poll it.

Duhh – Icy Hot – the problem with an off the shelf digital thermostat is twofold – first – for the most part, they switch only 24V for the furnace, etc, not 110VAC and second, the sensor needs to be in contact with the water pipe, not measuring the room air temp from inside the units own box.

I usually don’t post in Blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work.. beautiful