ER Project House: Insulating Water Pipes

Last week I decided to insulate my hot water pipes. I figured it wouldn’t be much work and would be relatively inexpensive. I also didn’t imagine it would do much. But, I got three bags of 3/4″ pipe insulation and some aluminum foil duct tape got to work. There were two grades of pipe insulation at the store, 3/8″ thick and 5/8″ thick. I chose to get the 5/8″ thick insulation. If you’re doing it, you might as well go all the way I think.

The previous owner had a piece of insulation here and there. I’m sure it wasn’t too effective at keeping much heat in. Above and below is the general layout.

The pipes extend to the right behind the furnace and then go up to the kitchen, bathroom, and 2nd floor bathroom.

So, I went to work. I probably went way overkill with my cutting joints and taping them up with aluminum tape. But, I would rather overkill than underkill. So, I added insulation almost everywhere I could. I just used a pocket knife to cut the insulation. I eventually added a small cap (not shown) to the pressure relief valve per the suggestion of forum member Patrick who recently installed a hybrid heat pump water heater. His heater came with insulation for the valve. Also, I found it amazing how warm the pipes coming directly out of the water heater are. The cold and the hot side were both very warm.

I insulated as much of the pipes going to my sunroom’s hydronic heated floor as I could. These were all bare copper before.

This was the biggest pain in the butt area. Lots of small pieces and lots of cutting them to fit elbows and tees correctly.

And, back on the far side of the furnace, I again added insulation to everything I could. The uninsulated pipes are the cold lines.

So far the pipes have been insulated for almost a week now. I ended up using 2.5 bags of the pipe insulation. I was skeptical about the benefits of doing this, but I can definitely say that getting hot water on the 2nd floor happens more quickly now. I’m quite happy with the results.