sudsmaster
Well-known member
Congrats on finding a good plumbing outfit!
I insulated the hot water pipes under the house about seven years ago, and it did make a difference. Not so much in the gas bill, but in the ability of the pipes to retain heat in the water during periodic use.
I have noticed there are two different types of pipe insulation. The cheaper stuff - which is mostly what I used - seems to be a kind of foamed polyethylene. It's ok. The other stuff, which costs two to three times as much, looks like foamed EPDM rubber. It's a bit thicker and probably insulates better as well. In either case, whenever I go to my local Home Depots, they are OUT of the size I would need ;-(. Most of the piping here is 1/2" steel, which takes the same size insulation as 3/4" copper. There is some copper under the house, such as serving the master bath addition. In any case, at some point I'm going to replace all the steel with copper (except to one or two hard to get to locations) and then re-insulate with the better stuff. I already bought nearly all the copper pipe (3/4 for the main runs and 1/2 for the faucets); it's just a matter of getting into better shape to do all the crawling, and practicing my pipe sweating as well. I'm also thinking of adding more laundry faucet drops - such as in the enclosed patio and maybe even out on the covered patio. And also upgrade the workshop water connection from a garden hose to real pipe ;-). I'll probably replace the 30 year old gas fired water heater at the same time. It's been working fine and I replaced the original anode rod about five years ago, but I suppose it will fail sooner or later. It does bump a bit from sediment that's collected at the bottom; flushing it doesn't dislodge it.
I insulated the hot water pipes under the house about seven years ago, and it did make a difference. Not so much in the gas bill, but in the ability of the pipes to retain heat in the water during periodic use.
I have noticed there are two different types of pipe insulation. The cheaper stuff - which is mostly what I used - seems to be a kind of foamed polyethylene. It's ok. The other stuff, which costs two to three times as much, looks like foamed EPDM rubber. It's a bit thicker and probably insulates better as well. In either case, whenever I go to my local Home Depots, they are OUT of the size I would need ;-(. Most of the piping here is 1/2" steel, which takes the same size insulation as 3/4" copper. There is some copper under the house, such as serving the master bath addition. In any case, at some point I'm going to replace all the steel with copper (except to one or two hard to get to locations) and then re-insulate with the better stuff. I already bought nearly all the copper pipe (3/4 for the main runs and 1/2 for the faucets); it's just a matter of getting into better shape to do all the crawling, and practicing my pipe sweating as well. I'm also thinking of adding more laundry faucet drops - such as in the enclosed patio and maybe even out on the covered patio. And also upgrade the workshop water connection from a garden hose to real pipe ;-). I'll probably replace the 30 year old gas fired water heater at the same time. It's been working fine and I replaced the original anode rod about five years ago, but I suppose it will fail sooner or later. It does bump a bit from sediment that's collected at the bottom; flushing it doesn't dislodge it.
