Frost King HC3A Automatic Electric Heat Kit Heating Cables, 3 Feet, Black

I bought this about a year ago due to a recurring freezing pipe in our basement when the outdoor temperature is in the single digits (or less). I finally got to try it out with this past week's (Jan 2026) negative degree temperatures in western PA. It worked GREAT! Our pipes did not freeze and the cable did not get hot - just warm.

Amazing product. They simply work. I did not have to play weeks of games battling freezing pipes during this cold snap, which is ongoing. The days of dripping water, leaving cupboard doors ajar, and heating the freeze points with a hair dryer or small torch are over. Nothing worked before. Neither insulated tape nor pipe foam nor fiberglass packing. These do. I am so very happy.

Easy to install. Works great. I installed these on the supply lines to my sinks in a new bathroom I had built out in an unfinished attic space at my vacation lake house in NC. The plumbers ran those lines on a day I was not there as I would have preferred that they run them under the floor because the attic gets very cold in the winter and the house sits empty most of the winter. I was concerned the supply lines would freeze and rupture, flooding the house. So far, I’ve made it through the coldest part of the winter without any issues. I also installed older Wi-Fi enabled thermostats to monitor the attic spaces. They did get well below freezing on a few days so am glad I installed these!

This heat strip is very flexible and easy to wrap around a pipe. The indicator light in the plug ensures you have power to the strip. It doesn’t seem to get very warm to the touch so I’m waiting to see how well it performs when the outside temperature drops down below freezing. So far it, on the nights when it has dropped down cold outside, the pipe hasn’t frozen but, it hasn’t really been cold enough long enough to know for sure. If you use these strips, be sure to wrap some type of insulation around the pipe as well to hold in the heat from the strip. Otherwise it will not be nearly as effective in extremely cold windy conditions.

Works so far so good

Very good heat kit. I used to use the Frostex heat kit, used them for many years, but there expensive and their controller cannot get wet. This Frost King is waterproof which is a big plus. This Frost King does Not have an adjustable wire length, you could cut the Frostex to fit but not these Frost Kings, so get an accurate measurement of what length you need. I had installed a 12-foot Frost King but it turned out to be too long, I had to remove it and install this 9 footer.

worked great. thawed out a frozen pipe in minutes

I live in Frazier Park and my plumber said I need to replace my heat strip on my water line. It was easy to install and is a good quality product, I recommend buying it and it is reasonably priced. I have used other Frost King products and I have never been disappointed .

but since length matters, had to return it.

I've been using this to prevent our sump pump discharge water from freezing in the outdoor section of the pipe and so far it hasn't let me down. The built in thermostat automatically turns on the heater when the temperature drops to almost freezing. This item is well worth the cost for the peace of mind it provides in knowing the water discharge pipe will remain open and the water won't back up into the sump pump.

I ordered 3 of these. Be sure to plug them into a GFCI plug in. Regular plug in can be dangerous and a fire hazard. Best to get a qualified electrician to install it. People think they can do it then Ka Boom!

The light is on but not cold enough to see if it is working

The heater appears to work fine. I was confused by the instructions. The instructions said you can't use the heater for a drain pipe, but when I was researching heating cables on your web site for this product it indicated that it can be used for a drain pipe to keep unfrozen. So I was a little confused when I got the heating cable and it said you can't use it for that purpose. I just assumed the package info was out of date and the online info was up to date. I used it anyways and it works fine.