Flexwat and gfi outlet question

[OhhWatALoser]

If you have a fuse or breaker, that will stop a true short.
If you have an arc fault, it stops arcs, flex watt really doesn't have much opportunity to do that, so it really doesn't help much in that aspect.
Gfcis compare incoming and outgoing current and trip if it is more than 5ma. Given flex watt only has one path, unless your rack is metal, there is no opportunity to have difference in current. So now it really won't help with flex watt.

I'm also not saying these devices are useless, just useless when it comes to heat tape.

With that said the common flex watt "short", isn't really a short, it's an component failure, so that's what I have in mind writing this. Resistors heat up more than they are supposed to, causes more heat, which causes more resistance, which causes more heat, ect. Til bad stuff happens. From what I've seen the failure is normally localized, so it doesn't effect the entire piece of tape. So if your probe is in one spot, doing its job while the heat tape is in runaway heating 3 feet away. So in that situation the thermostat doesn't help.

All I can suggest is take care of equipment, and keep it in good working order. Heat tape is an extremely simple thing, just foil tape and resistors that are laminated. Chances of it going bad are incredibly low. No moving parts to wear. Just when it does go bad, it can be catastrophic.

Physical damage can be an issue, pushing tubs over or against it. Material break down could be a problem, either from age or overheating. If you get new tape make sure it's not defective by giving it a run without putting animals at risk. I always wonder when people have issues, what actually happened to the tape to make it do that.