Painting and Insulating steam heat pipes

[Alta47]

I bought an old house that has a one-pipe steam heat system, and I never had steam heat before. I'll probably be renting the house out.

I'm painting the house and I want to paint, and possibly insulate, the vertical pipes that go up through the rooms. I want to paint them so they will look better, but I am also concerned about how hot they get and would like to make them safer in terms of tenants' kids grabbing or leaning against a hot pipe. Any ideas regarding type of paint and or insulation I should use?

I also want to at least insulate, and possibly paint, the horizontal steam pipes in the basement. I have a hunch that they used to have asbestos insulation on them that was taken off at some time in the past. They appear to be a little rusty or corroded, but I don't know if they were ever painted before.

For the basement pipes:

1) Would painting them help preserve them by keeping them from rusting or corroding?

2) What type of paint should I use?

3) What kind of insulation should I put on them?

[Mikepier]

Painting would help, but it really takes a lot of corrosion to do damage to those pipes. They are steel with cast iron fittings.

Oil base paint is ideal, but it will stink up your house for a few days when the pipes get hot. The smell will eventally go away. But you could use regular latex as well. I used it before with no problems

Use the fiberglass type insulation like these

you use them, I would not bother to paint the pipe.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If you insulate, don't bother with paint. The only insulation that will take the heat is a fiberglass roll with a paper outer coating that you could paint. Aside from a typical high heat paint I'm not sure what will last on the bare pipe. Steam is over 212 degrees so it will be hot. A good plumbing supply store or specialty insulation place will have the pipe insulation. Owens Corning is one maker of it. You can also buy a metal jacket that goes over the paper for better durability.

Paint is no help with corrosion. You have to be more concerned about the inside of the pipe than the outside.

The boiler and radiators may also be sized to take advantage of the heat given off by those steam pipes too. If you don't want to heat the basement, then insulate.

Steam boilers need a little care on a weekly basis. If you rent the house out, be sure the tenants to that every weeks. The heat is great, but needs more care than a water boiler.

[Alta47]

Makes sense. That's probably what I'll do.

This was a new one for me since I never had steam heat before. I got the "low-down on blow-down" from two different heating people I had there to check out and work on the heater. It sure seems weird to be telling tenants to drain some boiling water out of the heater into a bucket every couple of weeks, but I guess that's the deal with steam heat. One of the heater people had a good suggestion. He said that he has a similar rental property with a basement like mine that also has an outdoor entrance. He said that he put in the lease that the basement is not a part of the rental space and that he (the landlord) will be coming in and out of the basement from the outside to maintain the heater, etc. He put a lock on the door at the top of the inside basement steps so the tenants can keep their space locked off from the basement, and he said he allows the tenants access to the basement to store a few things there like bikes if they want and to be able to access the circuit breakers etc. if needed. But he has open access to come in and out of the basement at any time.

I just bought a book called "We Got Steam Heat!" from

that I should be receiving in a few days.

[Alta47]

Thanks. I think I'll be doing number 3 -- using fiberglass insulation and skipping the paint idea.

Painting would help, but it really takes a lot of corrosion to do damage to those pipes. They are steel with cast iron fittings.

Oil base paint is ideal, but it will stink up your house for a few days when the pipes get hot. The smell will eventally go away. But you could use regular latex as well. I used it before with no problems

Use the fiberglass type insulation like these

you use them, I would not bother to paint the pipe.

[bigjimpack]

[Alta47]

Thanks. I'll check it out if I can find it at places like Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

But I have a hunch that I will end up using the fiberglass/ASJ pipe insulation sections since I htink that will probably look better.

[HeyBub]

They will only lean or grab once.