Brands

The Raychem brand is synonymous with self-regulating electric heat trace cables and components for industrial, commercial, and residential applications. 

In 1973, Raychem revolutionized the heat tracing industry by developing the first self-regulating electric heat trace cable. Self-regulating heating cables were revolutionary at the time and remain unique today because they automatically adjust their power output to compensate for pipe temperature changes. An additional benefit is that Raychem self-regulating heating cables are cut-to-length and can be field terminated, making them easy to design with, install and maintain.

Born from a culture of quality and innovation, Raychem heating cables became and remain the industry standard in electric heat tracing. With heating cables and components engineered for a wide variety of applications and environments, Raychem products continue to be recognized as the finest in the world. Perhaps the fact that Pentair Thermal Management manufactured their one billionth foot of Raychem self-regulating cable in 2008 best exemplifies the quality and benefits of Raychem as perceived by the marketplace.

Founded in 1983, Tracer Industries existed for the sole purpose of designing, supplying, constructing and maintaining high quality electric heat tracing systems in North America. Today, Tracer is a global solutions expert in electric and steam heat tracing with the ability to provide engineering design services, procurement and fabrication, site services and post installation services anywhere in the world.

Acquired by Pentair Thermal Management in 2001, the Tracer brand is a unique provider of optimized heat tracing systems and solutions.  Being an expert in the field means that Tracer will work to understand the specific needs of your project and your business and will design an optimized heat management system focusing on the value-added capabilities of the highest quality heat tracing product manufacturers and is the pre-eminent service organization in existence today, providing safe, reliable, and cost effective heat tracing installations. 

Most importantly, Pentair Thermal Management’ Tracer services group considers safety to be their number one core value, as demonstrated by an impeccable safety record.  All systems are designed to operate safely and all installations are constructed using proven safety methods, equipment, and procedures.

Established in 1949, Pyrotenax quickly became a global leader in the manufacturing of mineral insulated (MI) cables & accessories for a wide variety of industrial and commercial heat tracing, fire & performance wiring and temperature measurement applications.

Today, Pyrotenax remains an integral part of Pentair Thermal Management’ suite of brands. Pyrotenax products provide the ideal solutions for many difficult and demanding installations. Suitable for use in hazardous, fire-radioactive and/or high temperature environments, their electric heating cables and wiring systems are available for a wide variety of industrial, commercial and residential applications including: process temperature maintenance; pipe freeze protection; snow melting and deicing; critical life-safety circuits; and temperature sensing.

DigiTrace was initially launched in 1985 to offer a much-needed control and monitoring system for the heat tracing industry. The norm at the time was to use bulb and capillary thermostats to provide crude on/off setpoint control. The DigiTrace 720 was developed to deliver industrial users a solid-state controller with state of the art monitoring, excellent reliability, lower energy and maintenance costs, and a tighter window of control for their electric heat tracing applications.

For more than 25 years, TraceTek Liquid Leak Detection Systems have been used to detect water leaks in computer facilities by monitoring concealed piping and valves beneath raised computer room floors.  A truly innovative system, the TraceTek sensor cable is able to locate a spill quickly and alert appropriate parties to help avoid or mitigate damage that can be caused by unreported leaks.

The history of development for the TraceTek Liquid Leak Detection System dates back to the mid 1980’s in California. It was created in Raychem Corporation’s central R&D facility as an outgrowth of work related to distributed anode systems for the cathodic protection of pipelines.

More recently, as the global business community has become more focused on environmental concerns, other markets for Pentair Thermal Management’ TraceTek leak detection system heave emerged and continue to grow at steady pace. TraceTek liquid leak detection systems can be employed to monitor hydrocarbon fuel leaks in tank farms, pipelines and hydrant systems; aqueous chemical spill detection in semiconductor fabs and pharmaceutical plants, and strong acid leak detection in fertilizer manufacturing, mineral  processing  and oil refining applications. TraceTek systems not only can provide early detection but can also monitor a pipeline with accuracy of +/- 1 meter.

PetroTrace Heating Systems were developed over 20 years ago by the Raychem Engineers. These specialized heating cables and PetroTrace components have been used by some of the largest oil companies in the world as an enhanced oil recovery tool to improve production, eliminate downtime and prolong the life of the well.

By utilizing electro-thermal heating technologies to raise the temperature of an oil to reduce its viscosity, PetroTrace cables are a great solution for flow assurance applications such as bottom hole heating. Similarly, by placing heat into the production tube, PetroTrace cables can mitigate the risk of wax or hydrate formation thus serving as a great solution for flow assurance applications.

The lineage of T2 floor heating systems can be traced as far back as the 1930´s and 40´s when Thorin & Thorin in Sweden began developing heating cable applications.

The company’s early activities included the use of heating cables for de-icing ships. In 1958, when Sweden hosted the football World Cup Finals, it was Thorin & Thorin that was entrusted with providing the heating cable systems for under soil heating at Gothenburg’s then new Ullevi Arena.

Around this time, the company started developing floor heating applications for buildings. In Sweden - a country where temperature can drop to minus 35ºC, these systems which gained immediate popularity and by the early 1960’s most Swedish homes and an increasing number of historic buildings, hotels etc. were enjoying the comfort benefit of warming tiled floors in areas like bathrooms, kitchens and entrance halls. With self-regulating heating cable technology this benefit has subsequently been available for installation under laminate and wooden floors.

In the 1990’s, Thorin and Thorin was acquired by Pentair Thermal Management and the floor heating systems were ultimately rebranded as T2 in honour of the former company. Today, T2 floor heating systems still hold a leadership position in the Swedish market through its continuous development of safe, easy to use and long-lasting floor heating systems. This is supported by T2’s ability to offer a unique 12 year triple warranty – guaranteeing the products installed for quality and being PVC-free and without EMF. This documented quality and safety assurance enables T2 to continue to grow its market share with systems which are the product of choice for more than 50% of Swedish installers and customers.  T2 Red, T2 QuickNet, T2 Reflecta and T2 Blue are the core floor heating systems that make up today’s stable of T2 floor heating systems with each offering its special set of benefits to meet the even the most specific customer needs.

CapaciSense sensors were developed in the 1980’s by BICC Thermoheat (later Pyrotenax) in Europe as part of a business unit making final assemblies from mineral insulated cable. The CapaciSense brand was created in 2006.

The original “sensors only” product has developed into a fuller offer including electronics, training and installation. CapaciSense systems are used worldwide within the power generation and aerospace industries for monitoring blade tip clearance and vibration in gas turbines. CapaciSense sensors survive extreme temperatures for several years and allow the whole engine to be monitored continuously, not only the lower temperature compressor areas.