Turnkey Heat Tracing: Design, Supply, Install, and Commission Under One Contract

For most industrial heat tracing projects, the hardest part is not the designing or the installation. It is the seam between them. Product-only manufacturers will sell you cable, panels, and accessories. Labor-only contractors will install whatever shows up in the materials laydown yard. When something does not work in commissioning, the engineer points at the installer and the installer points at the engineer.

WILECO, the heat tracing services subsidiary of WilsherCo, designs, supplies, installs, and commissions complete industrial and commercial heat tracing systems under one contract. One scope. One project manager. One accountable team from the first walk-down to the final commissioning sign-off.

For EPC firms running capital projects, plant engineers managing turnarounds, and government project managers coordinating multiple stakeholders, single-source responsibility is the difference between a project that finishes on schedule and a project that becomes a procurement headache.

One Contract. One Partner. One Accountable Outcome.

Most heat tracing projects involve multiple vendors: a manufacturer who supplies the cable, control panel, and accessories, a control panel fabricator, and a contractor who installs it. Each vendor optimizes for their own scope. The plant pays for the seams.

A turnkey heat tracing project removes the seams. We work with the brands you need. We design the system to your plant’s actual conditions. Through our WILECO division, we coordinate the design, specification, fabrication, and delivery of custom control panels. We install. We commission. We document. And we train your operators on how to run the system after we leave.

This is not a different way to package the same products. It is a different model entirely. Product-only OEMs cannot do it because they do not install. Labor-only contractors cannot do it because they do not design. We can because we have built our business around it for 47 years.

The Design-Build Process: Scope to Commissioning

Every turnkey project moves through our Proven Process. We designed it to be Customer-Centered and Benefit-Driven. It focuses on Outcomes – Things that you most care about. Your benefits! The deliverables and decision points are documented at each phase so you know exactly where the project stands.

WilsherCo - The Design-Build Process

Your Benefits

  • More uptime
  • Fewer winter failures
  • Safer operations
  • Faster response
  • Accurate design
  • Smoother startups
  • Longer system life
  • Education
  • Efficiency

Our Proven Process

Phase 1: Listen & Assess

We start by understanding your project scope, site conditions, operating goals, critical dates, and risks. Our team reviews available specifications, drawings, schedules, and requirements, then completes a field walkdown when needed to verify pipe routing, equipment, hazardous-area classifications, ambient conditions, maintain temperatures, and other details that affect the design.
When information is missing, we document it and submit RFIs so the scope is clear before work begins.

Phase 2: Design the Best-Fit Solution

Next, we develop a heat tracing solution that is safe, efficient, and built for the application. Using the field information and project requirements, we perform heat loss calculations, evaluate cable and control options, and prepare an estimate and proposal. The goal is not just to quote material. It is to recommend the right system for the environment, operating conditions, schedule, and long-term reliability needs.

Phase 3: Plan & Prepare

Once a purchase order is received, we build the project plan. This includes finalizing issued-for-construction drawings, confirming the schedule, coordinating safety training, procuring materials, identifying long-lead items, and aligning any subcontractors needed for insulation, installation, or support work. This phase helps eliminate surprises before work begins and gives everyone a clear path to execution.

Phase 4: Build & Commission

Our crews install the system according to the approved drawings and site requirements. Work may include heat tracing cable installation, power connections, end seals, splices, control panel installation, conduit runs, wiring terminations, thermostat or RTD installation, and coordination with insulation contractors. Throughout installation, we use toolbox talks, JSAs, project management oversight, and regular status updates. Once installed, the system is started up, tested, and commissioned to verify performance before handoff.

Phase 5: Train & Hand Off

After commissioning, we walk the system down with your team, show how it operates, answer questions, and complete the final project handoff. Closeout documentation may include as-built drawings, commissioning records, test results, material details, and other project-specific documentation your maintenance team, insurance carrier, or compliance auditor may need.
Before we close the project, we ask how we did so we can continue improving the way we serve you.

Phase 6: Protect & Optimize

Heat tracing reliability does not end after installation. Our lifecycle services help keep systems ready year-round through winter readiness audits, post-winter performance reviews, system checks, troubleshooting, repairs, and prioritized replacement recommendations.
The result is a safer, more reliable heat tracing system with fewer winter failures, faster response when problems arise, and a longer useful life.

What “Turnkey” Means When We Use the Word

In our industry, “turnkey” gets attached to projects that are anything but. Some product-only manufacturers use the word to mean “we will sell you everything you need for one quote.” That is not turnkey. That is bundled procurement.

When we say turnkey, we mean one scope of work covering design through commissioning, one contract with WilsherCo / WILECO as the responsible party, one project manager assigned to your project from kickoff to closeout, single-source accountability when something does not work, and one closeout package with all documentation in one place.

WilsherCo - Covering design through commissioning

Custom Control Panel Design and Fabrication

WILECO provides custom heat trace control panel design and specification services. This matters because heat trace control panels are not commodity products. The thermostat zones, alarm logic, communication protocols, hazardous-area ratings, and terminal layouts must match the specific plant where they will be installed.

During the design phase, we size and specify the control system to optimize performance, reliability, maintainability, and overall project cost. Custom heat trace control panels can cover 2 to 72 circuits per panel; general-purpose (NEMA 4) or hazardous-area (Class I Division 2 minimum) enclosures; line-voltage thermostats for simple maintain-temperature applications; RTD-input controllers with PID control for precision applications; ground fault detection and alarm output per circuit; Modbus, BACnet, or proprietary communication for plant DCS integration; and optional integration with Smart Heat Trace Monitoring platforms.

Custom panel projects can also include power distribution, lighting circuits, or process instrumentation in the same enclosure when consolidating equipment makes sense for the plant layout.

Heat Trace Controls: The Heart of the System

Heat trace controls are considered the heart of the heat tracing system and are critical to overall system performance. They can range from simple mechanical thermostats used for freeze protection to sophisticated solid-state control panels capable of managing 10, 40, or more heat trace circuits.

Mechanical thermostats are commonly used in many heat trace applications ranging from freeze protection to certain process applications where control of a single circuit is required. Control panels are typically used to manage larger numbers of heat trace circuits in one convenient enclosure.

As part of our Turnkey Heat Tracing Solution, WILECO designs, specifies, and integrates the control strategy that best fits the application, operating requirements, and project objectives.

WilsherCo - Custom Control Panel

Custom Control Panel

WilsherCo Heat Trace Panels are complete control solutions for the most demanding heat trace applications.

WilsherCo - Digital thermostats

Digital Thermostats

Digital thermostats are a microprocessor based temperature control and power connection kit.

WilsherCo - Mechanical Thermostats

Mechanical Thermostats

Line and ambient sensing thermostats are used for maintaining proper viscosity in process temperature control or freeze protection applications. Chromalox offers a wide variety of commercial and industrial thermostats for your heat trace application. Enclosure options include NEMA 4, 4X or 7 which may be wall or pipe mounted in either Ordinary or Hazardous areas. Choose from our standard, non-indicating, bulb and capillary designs up to our industry-leading, programmable, 30 Amp SSR power switching DTS-HAZ Series.

WilsherCo - Control Panel

Control Panel

Chromalox Heat Trace Panels are complete control solutions for the most demanding heat trace applications. Our WeatherTRACE and IntelliTRACE lines provide temperature control, monitoring and power management in one package. Choose from 1 to 72 circuit systems for either ambient or line sensing applications in ordinary or hazardous locations. The intelliTRACE line offers advanced features such as sensor mapping, soft start, multiple sensor inputs per circuit and a large touch screen display.

Government Project Experience

Federal, state, and local government clients have procurement requirements that most industrial vendors do not address routinely. Capability statements, past-performance documentation, set-aside qualifications, and the discipline of producing every deliverable on schedule with the paperwork to prove it.

WilsherCo has served government clients for years. The same single-source model that works for private-sector EPC firms works for government project managers, with the added benefit that government projects often involve longer-life facilities where freeze protection and process heating systems need to last decades. Our turnkey installations are designed and documented for that horizon.

If your project involves federal, state, or local government procurement, our team can provide capability statements, past-performance references, and the documentation packages your contracting officer requires.
Unique Entity ID(SAM)-L3LLKAM65W56
CAGE CODE – 8U416

WilsherCo - Industries We Serve in Turnkey Projects

Industries We Serve in Turnkey Projects

We deliver turnkey projects for every industry where industrial heat tracing matters:

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Chemical & Petrochemical

Chemical line tracing, Sulfur line tracing, caustic line freeze protection, polymer line maintain heating, tank farm freeze protection.

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Oil & Gas

Compressor station freeze protection, condensate drain heating, instrument tubing bundles, midstream pipeline tracing.

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Power Generation

Plant winterization, fuel line heating, lube oil piping, sulfuric acid, caustic soda, ammonia temperature maintenance.

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Government

Facility freeze protection, water supply lines, fire suppression freeze protection (UL 515A and NFPA 13).

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Commercial

Roof and gutter de-icing for industrial roofs, snow-melt for loading docks, freeze protection for outdoor process equipment.

WilsherCo - Chemical & Petrochemical

Food Processing

Underfreezer frost heave protection, sanitary process line maintain heating, freezer dock door freeze protection, washdown-rated heat trace systems.

For project examples, see the case studies on our Resources page, including our Ohio compressor facility freeze protection project (four sites, all running) and the West Texas compressor heat trace and insulation project (nine sites).

Frequently Asked Questions

For us, turnkey means single-source responsibility from initial project scope through final commissioning, under one contract. We handle design, material supply, custom control panel fabrication, installation, commissioning, and operator training. You sign one contract with one accountable party.

The product-then-install model splits responsibility. The cable manufacturer is responsible for the cable. The installer is responsible for the labor. When something does not work, neither party owns the outcome. Design-build keeps both functions inside one contract, which removes the responsibility seam.

Yes. We work directly with EPC firms on industrial capital projects, including projects where WILECO is the heat tracing subcontractor under a larger EPC scope. We provide the documentation, schedule discipline, and coordination protocols that EPC project managers require.

Yes. We have experience with government procurement, capability statements, set-aside qualifications, and the documentation discipline that government projects require. Unique Entity ID(SAM)-L3LLKAM65W56 CAGE CODE – 8U416.

We carry 20-plus brands, many of which are in stock, including Chromalox, Barksdale, Indeeco, Drexan, Gefran, NextThermal, Nextron, Schneider Electric, Square D, Hammond Power Solutions, Kerotest, Marsh Bellofram, McDaniel, Nova Swiss, Pyromation, Quality Gauge and Valve, Reotemp Instruments, and RKC Instruments. Multi-brand stocking lets us specify the right product for the application.

Project duration depends on scope, but a typical mid-sized industrial project (one plant area, 30 to 100 circuits) runs 8 to 16 weeks from kickoff to commissioning. Smaller projects can complete in 4 to 6 weeks. Large turnaround-tied projects can take 6 to 12 months for engineering and pre-fabrication ahead of an outage window.

Yes. Every turnkey project closes with an as-built drawing package, operator training for plant maintenance staff, and a project closeout binder.