2

I have a Slant/Fin boiler with un-insulated pipes in the basement. The previous owners of the house finished part of the basement and covered some of the pipes behind drywall in the ceiling.

Is it okay to only insulate only the pipes that are not behind drywall? Also, must I insulate the elbows and tee intersections in the piping?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    What is the motivation for insulating? Anytime you change insulation level, you change how heat is distributed. Not something to do lightly.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jan 21, 2020 at 18:25
  • The top floor does not heat as well as the middle floor and basement. I was going to insulate the exposed pipes in the basement (easy) and then do the basement pipes that are behind the drywall ceiling (more work).
    – awpawluczkowycz
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 14:39
  • Are these steam pipes, or hot water pipes? There's a big difference here -- steam boilers are far more sensitive to near-boiler piping than their hydronic counterparts!
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Commented Jun 18, 2021 at 23:59

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Any pipes you insulate, including elbows and tees will help contain heat and make it available to where you want it, in your case, the third floor.

Improve this answer
3
  • So there are some bends that I am not sure I can reach, and of course there is the drywall to deal with, so this project will take time: I just want to make sure that if I insulate piece-wise, that I am not effecting the overall flow heat/steam.
    – awpawluczkowycz
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 14:35
  • The pipes just carry the hot water to the registers on the individual floors and then return the water back to the boiler . Since pipes will dissipate some of the heat anything you can do to reduce that will help. Doing it piece-wise is fine. If you can't reach some bends, don't worry about it. Do what you can safely do. If you can determine the pipes going from the boiler to the registers, do those first. Then worry about the pipes returning to the boiler.
    – JACK
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 15:03
  • That's what I thought. Thanks for your advice.
    – awpawluczkowycz
    Commented Jan 23, 2020 at 16:12
0

The insulation of hot water pipes has the following purposes:

  • Reducing the heat loss so that the hot water at the point of use is not significantly colder than at the point of provision.
  • Reducing the heat loss that the provided energy is used effectively and e.g. heating costs are reduced.
  • When the system is still and parts are located in a freezing area, the probability of freezing of water is reduced.
  • Protection against burn of skin, especially if parts are in a passageway.

Therefore, there are only few areas where such pipes not have to be insulated. Only such pipes are not always to insulate, which are located in the same room as the heater. But piping in a conventional basement should be insulated. Piping in a drywall should be insulated too. Because the heat is often transmitted into rooms which do not need the heat.

The completeness of the insulation affect the effect of insulation. Less insulation cause a less effectiveness of the insulation, e.g. non insulated bends, branches or fittings.

Improve this answer
0

Any pipes that are uninsulated will simply leak heat all along them as the hot water passes through them. So long as they're inside the house's overall insulation envelope, the heat will remain in the house, just not necessarily where you want it.

Uninsulated pipes, therefore, mean that your house is heated, just not as precisely as you may want. The amount of plumbing you insulate is dictated by how precisely you want to control where the heat escapes. It's really up to you.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.