Insulating Hot Water Tank
 

So I went out and purchased an insulation kit for the hot water tank this weekend and installed it. It seems to fit pretty well, but the only issues that I had with it is that the tape that came with it, doesn't seem to stick very well. And there are also some places on the blanket that I'd like to tape up as I don't like fiberglass insulation opened up for my family to breath in. If anyone has any suggestions on a type of tape that I can use, let me know. I'd like to use a tape that can be removed if I ever have to replace the tank and reuse the blanket (although I'm leaning towards electric for the next one), otherwise I may need to just use duct tape, but I'd rather not as it looks ugly and it would be hard to pull off if I ever needed to. And yes, I forgot to take pics of the before shots.

As you will see, I also put foam insulation around all the hot water pipes.

The other thing I did was to add a UVC air treatment system to the furnace. It's suppose to kill all the bugs in your furnace as well as clean the air.

Insulated hot water tank. I cut some holes for the relief valve as well as the main control panel (which I'm going to tape closed). And to the right you can see the UVC Filter on the furnace (no that cord will not stay like that...I'm going to get an extension and move it up the furnace).
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_10950001.JPG

Relief valve. I'd like to tape that fiberglass up so that we're not breathing that in.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_10970002.JPG

I'd also like to tape the top. As you can see I also have the foam around the hot water pipe.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_10980003.JPG

The taped side isn't sticking very well. I'd like to retape it with something better.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_10990004.JPG

Up close, you can see it's coming loose.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_11000005.JPG

This is the UVC filter. You basically just cut a hole into the furnace, and place the tube inside. The tube lasts a year and it is suppose to clean the air. I do find it a bit cleaner in the house. It's suppose to kill allergens and what not as well.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_11030006.JPG

The box for it.
http://www.mts.net/~lsenden/IMG_11050007.JPG

If anyone has any suggestions for the tape, I'd much appreciate any ideas. Also if you have any comments on anything else, please feel free. Thanks!

I wouldn't worry about the fiberglass being exposed and breathing it in. Its not going to come apart unless you mess around with it and pull the fiberglass. I have no idea what kinda tape to use though.

Duct Tape!

you can even get it in white

No comment on the tape, but I'm really interested in the Swordfish. I'm very allergic to dust mites (and sadly cats). I'm curious what motivated your purchase of this unit, are you (or someone in your family allergic to something), or just an overall better health thing? If it was allergies have you noticed any improvements since installing it?

Cory

Thanks for posting! You reminded me that I need to do this while I'm home over break, :)

I'm curious as to what kind of insulation you used. When I insulated my water heater, I used foil backed fiberglass insulation and taped it in place using foil tape. The foil increases the effectiveness of the insulation by reflecting heat back into the water tank. Your wrap looks like it's a plastic material so I imagine house wrap tape would work but if you have some duck tape hanging around, that would be okay too.

A couple of other random thoughts. Never insulate the top of a gas fired water heater - you could block the chimney vent. For added bling factor, wrap your water with an additional layer silver Mylar to trap even more heat - available in large sheets as an emergency blanket in the camping aisle of your local hardware store.

Yup, I know about the gas water heater. Mine is actually electric though. It was on the instructions to not put insulation on the top if it was a gas one.

Ya, it's just a plastic covering the R5.3 insulation. It was only $30.

I'll check to see if our local stores have white duct tape and just use that.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Cory, I bought the swordfish for overall health mostly. Although my 2 year old has started coughing a lot at night lately, and I wasn't sure up until last Friday what it was, but the doctor said he may have some aszma which runs in our family although no one has anything really full blown. I think I may have a bit of allergies, but just a touch. I just put it in a week ago and I've noticed the air feeling cleaner myself. I'll tell you next spring how well it really worked. It's apparently also suppose to help kill virus's in the air so you're not suppose to get sick as much. I read good things about it before I purchased it so we'll see. I get sick just about every month in the winter, and if I stay healthy...well let's just say I'll know for sure if this thing is working or not. :D I have read a lot about people saying it reduced their allergy suffering a lot...it didn't get rid of it, but it alleviated enough to justify buying it. I'll keep you posted.

Just wanted to say thanks to letting me know about the white duct tape. I bought some and taped up the insulation and now it's well held together AND it looks good. The grey duct tape would have made it look junky. And since my basement is unfinished and everyone can see the tank, this makes it look decent. THANKS! :thumbup:

Higgy,

From the pictures it looks like you have a forced-air furnace. If so what are you using for a filter?

If you are using the "blue fiberglass" filter I would strongly encourage upgrading to a pleated paper filter. I use a mid-priced, pleated paper filter (not the pricier 3M filtrete one) and that does a good job of keeping winter dust down. I also change out the filter every 2 months and when I had a cat I changed it monthly.

I also did the water heater insulation wrap and hot water pipe insulation and that has made a huge improvement in 'time-to-hot-water' at the sink.

Tim

I'd recommend aluminum ductwork tape. The real metal stuff. It sticks really well and doesn't deteriorate.

Hey Tim, yes I do use a pleated filter on my furnace already. I never buy any of that blue fiberglass.

Ya, the time to tap for the heat is definitly improved over not having the insulation on. My wife, who is on mat leave so she's home all the time, said the hot water is definitely coming out faster so we end up using less water.

Has anyone done this to a gas hot water heater? I am thinking about this, but am just worried that since the top is not insulated, how much better can it be?

Thanks,

LDJ

The kit I purchased was made in such a way that you could leave the top off, but to me, if you don't cover the top, then you're still losing a lot of heat. So I'm not sure how much it would help with a gas hot water tank.

Maybe some kind of metal heat reflector?

Wonder what the wife would approve of...

Higgy,

You should also insulate the cold water pipe within 1m of the hot water heater. Convenction currents get set up -- you'll probably notice that the cold water pipe is warm too.

I know I'm digging this one up from way in the past.

I also have one of those swordfish UV lights in my furnace. It is only really effective at killing things when the fan on the furnace is running which is less then 10% of the time at the most in my case. So since the light uses 30ish watts sitting there purifying the exact same bit of air 90% of the time I spoke with a friend in the control systems industry. After looking at the wiring diagrams for my heatpump/furnace he hooked me up with a 24V-110 relay and I poked around with a multimeter while my wife turned the fan on and off at the controls until I found the right lead.

I then wired the relay to turn on when the fan turns on. Then I cut the wire going to the Light and switched one lead on it with the relay.

Anyways the end result is my light only turns on when the furnace fan is running. which should roughly save me just shy of $20/year and should greatly extend the life expectancy of those bulbs.

If your fan happens to be 110V you can probably just tap power directly off of it and not need the relay.

Nice mod! It really makes me wonder why stuff like this isn't doneby the factory. Install is slightly more complex, but just makes sense.

What kind of improvement have you noticed from insulating the water heater?

I'm the newest member of the HWH Insulaters' Club.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5049/...c103b808_b.jpg

Home Depot sells a kit claiming R13 from ~3" of vinyl-backed fiberglass. I think it was $15. Not sure how that compares to the Kraft-backed stuff a few aisles over.

The blanket fit perfectly on my HWH, which is more barrel-shaped than most. It's a gas HWH, so I left a gap around its base for combustion air, didn't cover the top, and made a cutaway for the pilot light access and the controls.

I think my HWH already had well above average insulation, but now it's that much better.

It looks like you could use some insulation on the water pipes.

Wow, your's is way thicker then my crummy insulation I picked up at Canadian Tire. I should have grabbed mine from Home Depot as well.

Do you have a cat? Even though you may have had it forever it is not uncommon for kids to suddenly have reactions to it.

I have read about those UV light products. From what I have read you would need a rather large one to actually benefit from it.

True, especially since I allow convection to carry heat within the pipes all the way up to the 2nd floor.That's why I chose this part number, over the R3 one next to it.

Does anyone know of a reason why kraft-backed insulation from the building materials aisle wouldn't work for this application?

It should work fine. I think the reason they use plastic in the kits is that it is more puncture resistant. The kraft paper insulation is normally covered with drywall or some other material so it isn't subject to damage.

He's ok now. It must have been a phase he was going through. Or there wasn't enough humidity in his room as this was happening mostly during the winter in the dry months. We use a humidifier now when anyone coughs and boom...gone.