Insulating hot water pipes

[Daox]

Earlier this week I stopped by the local menards and picked up a few insulating items. I got a few bags of the heavy pipe insulation (grey stuff was thinner). I got a water heater blanket (also thicker type), and I also got some R6.9 foil faced insulation for the furnace ducting.





First, I started off with the hot water pipes. The previous owner had a piece of insulation here and there. I'm sure it wasn't too effective at keeping much heat in.

Here is the general layout.











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





So, I went to work. I probably went way overkill with my cutting joints as close as I could and taping them up with aluminum tape. But, thats how I like to do stuff. I added insulation almost everywhere I could.





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 mostly insulated for a few days now. I just finished up the hydronic floor stuff tonight. I ended up using 2.5 bags of the pipe insulation. I was skeptical about doing this, but I can definitely say that getting hot water on the 2nd floor happens quicker now. 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'm definitely considering installing some heat traps to minimize this heat loss. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the results.