The temperatures are dropping, and the chill of winter is in the air — no matter where you live. The idea of wrapping yourself in a thick blanket while sipping on hot chocolate and being comfortable from the inside out sounds lovely. You probably realize that the warm air from your heater gets blown into each room, but do you ever stop to think more deeply about how this happens? It all happens through pipes! These pipes dispatch hot water or steam that warms up your entire house. Luckily for you, these pipes run a lot of the warmth to your house — no heat=no hot water in most cases. But if those pipes are not wrapped like they should be, much of that warmth can escape along the way (and altering its return). And here is where pipe insulation can save the day!
Pipe insulation : This is an external covering you wrap around the pipes that take hot water or steam. The function of this insulation is to keep the air inside the pipes warm and not allow it seep out into cold. Insulating Your Pipes to Keep your Home Warmer That means you won't have to use a lot of energy for warming up your home which is great! Not to mention that using less energy is better for our planet creating less pollution and a cleaner Eco system!
There are a number of materials you can use to insulate pipes. The most popular being made of fiberglass, rock wool and foam. Fiberglass is fluffy and simple to wrap around the pipes, making it a popular choice. In contrast, rock wool is made from volcanic stone and does a fantastic job at holding heat in. Plastic-based foam insulation is just as effective at keeping the heat in. Any material you use, make sure that it is rated for the temperature and safe to be near hot pipes.
Although installing a pipe insulation may appear to be complicated, it must go through the proper steps for optimal efficiency. To begin, prepare the pipes ensuring they are clean and dry. The insulation will not adhere correctly if they are grimy or wet. The Insulation will wrap around the pipe or between two pipes, so getting our piping ready is going to be necessary prior. This helps to ensure no space is left for heat to exscape from without being heated. Once the pipes are wrapped, use tape or wire to secure the insulation. Finally, be sure to close all gaps and cracks; sometimes even small spaces between doors can let heat escape.
So before you just pick one insulation over the other when it comes to your pipes, here are a number of things that need consideration. First consider the heat of the pipes. If the pipes can get very hot, you will have to go for a material that takes these high temperatures without melting or getting damaged. Do I need interior insulation? If you not insulate properly, the heat will continue to escape which is obviously against of insulation. Finally, you will need to pay attention about how the insulation material itself is. For example, some materials are not as easy to cut and shape which can complicate installation.
Insulating pipes will help you save energy in numerous ways. Jet, when your pipes are insulated correctly — you will save energy on home heating. This results in considerably lower energy bills – and that is always a positive thing! The second reason is that by using less energy, you will also be polluting the environment somewhat LESS. At last, by insulating your pipes you are doing no less than extending the life of your heating system. Insulating your HVAC system extends its life and allows it to cycle on/ off more appropriately, which will help relieve some of the stresses on the equipment as well.