Water line insulation question

[KenK]

How cold does that split sleeve-type insulation that you slide over water lines protect to? 0? 10?

TIA

[trader_4]

To ~32. Insulation only slows down heat transfer, it doesn't stop it. If you have no water flow, leave standing water in a pipe with insulation on it long enough, it will freeze just like it would without insulation.

[makolber]

that is correct for the case the OP asked about where the insulation is wra pped directly around the pipe. If the air around the pipe is under 32, th e water will enetually freeze, insulation or not.

BUT...

if this is indoors, a crawl space etc. and instead of wrapping the pipe i tself, you instead install insulation as a barrier between the cold outsid e and the warm inside, so that you can keep the air around the pipe above

32, that can keep the pipe from freezing.

Of course, this won't work at all if you are talking about a pipe that is o utside or if there is no heat at all in the house.

[Micky]

It will not get colder than the surrounding temperature. But it will take longer to get there. I'm sure it's not as effective as a thermos bottle, which uses vacuum and reflection.

When I lived in JHS and HS in a ranch-style house, I always disliked how long it took for the hot water to get from the far end of the house to the bathroom.

So when I got my own house, a 2-story townhouse, one of the first things I did was get that split sleeve stuff and put it on all the hot water pipes in the basement. At least for me, who lives alone, who might use the upstairs bathroom in the morning and not again until dinner, certainly not before lunch, it did no good. The water was usually cold again, and if not cold, then just warm. I couldn't insulate the part inside the wall from the basement ceiling to 2nd floor, but doing so wouldn't have made much difference in my shoes.

[Stormin Mormon]

My one set of grand parents lived on second floor. I remember her commenting how long it took to get hot water. Of course, and instant tank under the sink would have helped. She'd turn on the hot water, walk away and do some thing, and come back. Must have wasted a considerable lot of water.

I wrapped some over head pipes in the humid summer, as they were right over my chemistry set, and I got tired of them dripping on me.

[Micky]

If I had built my own home (something I had no interest in paying for, but would have loved to have done myself) I suppose I would have insulated the hot water pipes inside the walls.

Does anyone do that? I don't think it would help someone in my shoes, but if the hot water is used ever hour or two, maybe it would.

My powder room hot water faucet is only 8 feet from my water heater, so that's not a problem. And the cold water there goes near the furnace, so in the winter, after two seconds of tepid, there are 4 seconds of hot, followed in a couple seconds by cold again.

[Dean Hoffman]

I've read of people putting on demand heaters under sinks, right next to the shower or whatever. I guess one holdup on that is the power it takes to operate one.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Tired of waiting for hot water at our bathroom (sink furthest away from the hot water heater) I bit the bullet and convinced SWMBO that this was the way to go:

Watts circulating pump system that I saw on "Ask This Old House"

Rich Trethewy installed one in a residence and said it worked like a charm. Ours has been going strong for about 4 years now. Simple install if you are at all handy - took me about 2½ hours total. Mount a diverter beneath the sink which allows the pump (mounted by the hot water heater) to circulate hot continually (either continually or set operating periods with the pump's built-in time) by pressurizing the hot line and forcing the water through the diverter and back into the cold line so you always have hot water ready to come out of the tap.

Only downside is that if you want cold water it takes a second or two to get the hot out and then you have tepid water for about the same period of time you might be begging for hot water if you didn't have the system in place.

We like it. Price on Amazon is around $190 but when bought mine, I found somebody selling brand new units for around $150 or.

I'd do it again in a NY instant.

[Micky]

Thanks. I thought about that and I thought about recirculating the water, but it's all too much effort for too little return. Rather do other projects.

[My 2 Cents]

A person should not have to go through life waiting for hot water. I finally bit the bullet a few years ago and crawled under the house and ran a 1/2 inch CPVC line from the HWT to the kitchen sink/dishwaher in almost a straight shot. It replaced the old old old original steel pipe with Gawd only knows how many ells and 45's and almost clogged from deposits through the years. It was one of those things I should have done 15 years earlier. I'd considered putting a small electric tank under the counter but the new line solved the problem.

[trader_4]

Elbows and 45's hold very little water. Any improvement would be from shortening the total length significantly. And if the old pipe was restricted, going to a new larger diameter pipe only increases the time for hot water to arrive.

[Tony Hwang]

Now most residential plumbing is done with PEX(even 20 year old our house has PEX plumbing)

[Micky]

I'm glad it worked so well.

My line to the kitchen sink is pretty straight. And the sink is about

20 feet from the WH, but if there's a wait, it doesn't bother me. There are almost always things to do like getting other dishes to put in the sink. (compared to the upstairs bathoom where I have nothing to do but wait) AFA the dish washer goes, I don't know what kind of water goes in that, except that when I was trying to find a drain clog and putting the DW through the same cycle over and over, the built-in heater eventually made the same water so hot that it bent a plastic bowl!