Insulating the loft

[SpeedyC]

Having replaced the bathroom ceiling I need to relay the insulation. It as been suggested that I shouldn't insulate under the cold water tank as this will help stop it freezing in cold weather. This seems a bit daft as I has some great thick padded jacket over it (though not under it). So is this a good idea or not?

Also what is the best way to insulate round the halogen downlighters? I was thinking of removing the base from a ceramic flowerpot and putting that over them to keep the insulation away (I thought it might get to hot for paper or plastic). Again any ideas?

Thanks, col

[Kalico]

Well by not insulating it will allow a little more heat from the rooms below to reach the tank. Not sure if that is standard practice but I wouldn't be at all suprised.

Using a pot flower pot to cover the downlighter sounds a pretty good idea. I have used aluminimum pipe like that used for kitchen extration to surround the light fitting and keep the insulation away from it. You could even line the flower pot with aluminium foil to stop it getting too hot.

let us know how you get on.

Rob

[Harry Bloomfield]

On 26/02/2004 SpeedyC opined:-

Yes! You should be aiming to allow heat to rise under all of the tanks in the loft, but to cover them over so as to retain what little heat there is up there. You should also carefully lag all the pipe work as well.

[T i m]

[T] I have seen it done in several lofts .. no tanks in mine .. less water to come crashing through ceiling, more space in the loft, less noise etc ;-)

[T] A ceramic flower pot sounds good, but a ceramic tube might be better (less heat buildup as it's full open 'open' at the top). I wonder if you could get short lengths of ceramic soil pipe cheaply?

[T] Again, a good (simple, light, cheap) solution but I'm not sure I'd want something conductive (and not earthed) around the back of an electrical fitting? . You could even line

[T] I think it would eventually get as hot as it would without the foil through conduction?

All the best ...

T i m

[Andy Hall]

It is a good idea because if a tank is full insulated but isolated from any source of warmth then it will eventually freeze if the loft temperature is cold enough for long enough.

What you can do is to leave the area under the tank uninsulated and then create some vertical surfaces around the perimeter of the platform between it and the ceiling if it is raised up at all. Then you can insulate the vetical surfaces and effectively the tank is more or less inside the thermal envelope of the house. Alternatively, a sheet of Celotex, cut to fit and taped up will do the job in one hit.

This topic has come up a lot so search with Google Groups. Earthenware flower pots are one solution, but there are also proper covers from places like TLC.

.andy

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