I started to put insulation on my basement pipes using these foam tubes with built in sealing edges. It turns out that a number of my pipes, especially the hot water ones, are run directly against wood with no gap. There are sections that are clear too. Does it make an sense to just do the clear sections ie does it do any good or will the uninsulated sections, now being hotter, just lose more energy. One also wonders about the affect of the higher average temperatures on the wood. Is their any convention wisdom available on this? Thanks.
Do all the clear sections normally. Where its against the wood. I would cut the insulation tubes so they will cover at much of the pipe as practical, and either duct tape it to the ceiling or if you can get some wire under the pipe, use wire to tie the insulation on.
Conduction is a much more efficient form of heat transfer than either convection or radiation. In other words that wood will cool the pipes, assuming they're hot water pipes, much faster than if they weren't touching anything.
You may want to pull a strap or two holding them in place and see if you can move the pipe enough to get the insulation around it.
Actually wood is a fairly decent insulator so I would not worry too much about heat loss there. I did inculate my hot water pipes, and only in my basement. And yes I hade to deal with it against wood too. When you are done you should be able to turn the temperature down on the water heater and get the same temperature water out of the faucets.
No, actually wood is pretty poor insulation at ~ R1/inch. It's a pipe touching the wood, which means there's a small portion of the pipe actually touching the wood, so even if the wood was agood insulator it wouldn't help much. However, as I mentioned in my previous post, conduction is much more efficent at heat transfer than convection or radiation, so that little bit of wood contact has a big impact on the overall insulation value.
In addition, the insulation does not raise the heat of the water, it only conserves the heat. Unless you have a ridiculously long pipe, once the pipe heats up the water temperature will remain fairly consistent from heater to faucet/radiator.
I spent 7 years in a ranch house where it took forever for the hot water to reach the bathroom at end of the house where I slept.
When I got a townhouse one of the first things I did was use that slip grey foam tubing. I was able to do the whole line in the basement, and that left 10 or 11 feet in the wall to the second floor that I couldn't do.
Admittedly I live alone and if more people were using water, maybe it would help, but from the time I take a bath until t he next time I wash my hands, the water is totally cold again, that is, room temperature, same as it would be if I had no insulation. Not sure, but my impression is that an hour is more than enough time for the water to cool off.
As far as taking a bath, and using a lot of hot water, personally I think -- and I can tell this by feeling the water that comes out of the tub faucet -- that the first water looses heat because it heats the water pipe on the way up, but after the water gets hot, I don't think substantial heat is radiated from the pipes, where they are insulated and where they aren't.
I leave a small stream of hot water running during the whole bath, because otherwise I get used to the temperature and start to feel cold, and the stream never changes temp, until I use up all the hot water (which only happens if I accidentally drain a bunch during the middle of the bath. 52 gallon tank.)
I still replaced the foam when two pieces got old and fell off (15 years) but that's only because I'm compulsive and the foam is cheap.
Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.
Gives you the idea. You could also just wrap plumbers tape (either the perforated copper plated tape or plastic) around the pipe on top of the insulation and nail the tape to the framing. If you're concerned about the foam compressing, it shouldnt' be a problem as there usually isn't that much weight involved, but you could halve the existing strap spacing if it makes you feel better.
R
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