Anchoring Vertical Copper Water Supply to Studs (?)

[croy]

What are the best anchoring hardwares for anchoring copper water supply pipes to studs, but still allow enough room for plastic foam sleeve-style insulation?

[ironmike]

I don't know if you're going through the studs, or just running on the surface. If you're going through the studs, just drill holes big enough for the insulation. Ordinarily, plumbers don't anchor horizontal pipes that go through studs (there are exceptions). If you're attaching insulated copper pipes on the surface of the studs, you can get either 2-hole pipe straps big enough to accommodate the insulation, or you can use wire hangers that nail onto the studs.

Are you sure these pipes need to be insulated?

[croy]

They're vertical pipes in an outside wall, and I'm thinking that some sort of standoff from the stud that allowed the use of closed-cell pipe insulation would be better than laying the pipe against the stud and using wall insulation (for the hot water line). It seems to me that the studs might get pretty cold in cold weather, and even tho wood isn't much of a thermal conductor, I'd rather have pipe insulation wherever I can.

[ironmike]

OK, gotcha.

Most plumbers would nail a stringer between the studs and then run the vertical pipes in the middle of the stud space. You can use two- hole straps that are large enough to accommodate the insulated pipes. You can also drill the holes in the plates large enough to pass the insulated pipes.

Most plumbers like me would try very hard NOT to run these pipes in an outside wall. I'm from Chicago, and freezing is always on my mind. Is there any way to run these pipes in an inside wall? If not, then put as much additional insulation between the pipes and the outside wall in the stud space. Leave the side that faces towards the heat clear of insulation.

[croy]

Hehe. North central California. When I said "pretty cold", I meant in comparison with desired hot-water temp. Freezing temp's in winter do occur here, but usually only a few days each year. 15 or 20 years ago, we had something like 5 days of sub-freezing temps, and lots of things broke, and even some large, non-native trees died (not to mention lots of smaller plants). I think a couple of people died, too. But that's the worst here.

Anyway, I'm thinking more of energy conservation than of frost-durability.

I was surprised to see that the polyethylene foam pipe insulation I had thrown on the pipes about 20 years ago had lost some of its "ductility"--when I pulled some off, it actually broke, instead of just flexing back off the pipe. This makes me a little uneasy about mounting pipes by their insulation. I would imagine foam-rubber would have even a shorter life. It seems to me that if the pipes themselves last for 50 years, then the pipe-mounting should as well.

So I guess what I was hoping for was a rigid, 50-year, standoff mount with very low thermal conductivity. It sure seems to me that others would have beaten this path down by now. I'll keep looking.

Thanks for your replies.

-- croy