Thanks all, for your responses. Sometimes I get carried away by the theoretical when working on electrical/electronics solutions, and forget the KISS principle

I went with the silicone wire because it's easy to find on Amazon where I'm ordering a bunch of the other parts from, and the wire is rated at 200˚C; I don't think the pipes exceed 150˚C so I've got a comfortable margin just in case the pipes can get a little hotter than what I measured, or if the wire is cheap imported crap and overrated.

It's 16AWG, which should be more than enough for the 12V/1A that I'm supplying; the LED strips I'm using should total around 800mA. I could've gotten away with 18AWG easily, but the gap is large enough to accommodate 16 and the cost was about the same so I felt there was no reason to go with 18.

 

Thanks all, for your responses. Sometimes I get carried away by the theoretical when working on electrical/electronics solutions, and forget the KISS principle

I went with the silicone wire because it's easy to find on Amazon where I'm ordering a bunch of the other parts from, and the wire is rated at 200˚C; I don't think the pipes exceed 150˚C so I've got a comfortable margin just in case the pipes can get a little hotter than what I measured, or if the wire is cheap imported crap and overrated.

Um. What temperature do you think water boils at and how much lower than that at typical residential water heater is set for?

It could be an educational googleing subject.

 

Um. What temperature do you think water boils at and how much lower than that at typical residential water heater is set for?

It could be an educational googleing subject.

This is a home heating system, not a water heater, so it theory it could get to a higher temperature if it's pressurized.

 

...the wire is rated at 200˚C; I don't think the pipes exceed 150˚C so I've got a comfortable margin...

Are you sure you're not confusing ˚C and ˚F here? If your pipes really are at 150˚C, that's over 300˚F and the pressure would be nearly 70 psi. I seriously doubt your heating system delivers water at that temperature.

 

This is a home heating system, not a water heater, so it theory it could get to a higher temperature if it's pressurized.

I have doubts anyone could run a hot water heating system up to 150C even if they tried. By design they have T&P safety valves in them to limit the temperature and pressure to way below that value.

Especially on a old house where the typical hot water heat system likely ran open uninsulated piping to open frame radiators that maybe saw 150 - 160 F top end.

The plausibility of realistic design just says 150C (~300 F) in a residential water system isn't going to happen.

Heck, most standard high pressure steam cleaners don't run 300 F top end.