Ground Faults On Ramp Heating Systems

What is it?

A ground fault on an electrical snow melting system or ramp heating system occurs when there is a break in the cable’s copper sheath and moisture has entered the cable creating conductive pathways for current to flow to ground. The copper sheath of the heating cable is required to be solidly bonded to ground at the junction point so any current should ideally only travel along the sheath (path of least resistance). Under this condition current is now travelling along the bond wire or the metallic conduit used to feed the system. This creates a number of dangerous problems which we will outline below.

Ground Fault protection wasn’t mandated by the Electrical Safety Authority until around 2012 so there are many embedded electrical heating cable systems operating today that don’t contain ground fault protection. That being said, if your system was installed after this date, then your system will have this safety feature. 

When a snow sensing system is installed to operate an electrical snow melting system there are some very important things that customers must understand.

If you have a ground fault on your electrical snow melting system, you need to call Electrix  for help..