Painting and Insulating steam heat pipes

Brad White_203

that they had the place abated for lead paint. When done, "by the book", at least here in MA, they remove all paint within 48 inches of the floor.

Most places we drive by and see the porches so stripped, we say, "Yup- Code Minimum!"

Places look like they were attacked by four-foot tall beavers.

LT-user

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?

Brad White_203

Insulation

Fiberglass is the most practical alternative. There are some high temperature foams out there but I have never used them. I would stick with fiberglass with all-service jacket (ASJ), which is a white paper backed by a foil and ripstop nylon mesh. Joints are sealed with self-stick tape and I like to brush insulating cement on the bare ends and over the sealing tape, "just because".

If you want to paint the insulation jacket, fine. Burn protection would be my concern but then you have bare radiators, tell me you are going to insulate those, right? Well, an unsuspecting person would not know a pipe is hot necessarily, so yes, insulate those risers.

Hint: Sometimes a bare pipe is the only radiation in a small room such as a bathroom so be aware of that. It may want to remain bare.

For paint, avoid metallic paints especially if you need heat output; it cuts it back by about 15%. Use any good oil-based enamel. If you are going to insulate, do not bother to paint the pipe.

For durability, there are thick PVC covers that snap on over the insulation to make them neat and tidy. White is easy to find, colors less easy but available. Check out Knauf as one brand. Ceel-Tite as another.

[Deleted User]

If you're new to steam heating I'd suggest you get Dan's book "We Got Steam Heat!" (See "A Steamy Deal" at the bottom of this page) Tells you all you need to know about steam systems. It's easy reading and clues you in to how to do adjustments and fixes. If nothing else it gives you enough knowledge so you can select a competent steam pro if you need work done on your system.

LT-user

Insulation -- Thanks

Thanks for the info. That helps a lot. I'll check out the fiberglass insulation with ASJ that you suggested. I am concerned about people getting burned since the steam in the pipes is at 212F. Fortunately, all of the radiators in the house have very nice metal covers surrounding them, so the radiators themselves are not a potential burn hazard.

LT-user

Thanks -- I will get the book.

Thanks. I am going to get the book. I was thinking of ordering it before, but I was hoping to see a Table of Contents page on the book description before ordering. But, it does sound like what I need, so I'll get it.

[Deleted User]

I've an old three story house and where the steam pipes go through a room on their way to the floor above, have just painted the pipes with the same paint as I'm using on the room. Steam temp isn't more than about 215 F maximum and there hasn't been even a color change (yellowing) from the heat even with latex paint. Generally my pipes are in a position, like a corner, where they aren't likely to come in contact by someone accidentally touching them.

I've some friends who were concerned about their very young kids touching a hot pipe and what they did was wrap fiberglass insulation around the pipes They used the kind of insulation you find in Home Depot for ceiling and walls and taped it tightly using high temp duct tape. They ended up with a max of about 1 inch insulation when the insulation was compressed. They then boxed the pipe in using drywall on the four sides and screwing into 1x1 wooden cleats in the corners. The outside corners were finished with the metal drywall corners. On some they boxed the pipe from the floor to the ceiling and on others they just went up about 4 feet off the floor (out of reach of small hands!) (On one of the short "columns" they added small table top around the pipe for the wife to put her tropical plants.) Boxing the pipe in gave an end result of about a 4 x 4 inch box around the pipe. After the boxes were "mudded" and sanded,they used the same paint they used on the room, on the box. It seemed to be a really good, fast and cheap way to solve their problem.

Insulating steam pipes, especially the mains,is a huge benefit. My mains had been stripped of asbestos and had been left bare. I was told by the local heating "expert" that that was fine as it heated the basement. After reading Dan's book I insulated them and it made a huge difference. All my pipes in the basement are now insulated with the type of fiberglass Brad`mentioned. I got some of my insulation from McMaster Carr http://www.mcmaster.com/ (see Cat. page 3419) Their pricing wasn't bad but I'd check locally as you maybe able to get a better deal. I used 2 inch thick in the basement. The only reason I haven't insulated the pipes going through the rooms was for aesthetics rather than practicality.

LT-user

I'll insulate and paint.

Thanks. Looking at one of the riser pipes in the house I bought, I now think that maybe the prior owners had little kids and insulated it about 4 or 5 feet up and then painted the rest with regular latex paint. I was wondering why the top was painted and the bottom 4 or 5 feet was bare metal. I guess the insulation was removed at some point (the house was a foreclosure and was vacant when I bought it). Also, what looks like latex paint on the pipe seems to be in good shape with no peeling, cracks, etc.

Bill_110

I insulated my mains in the cellar and it made a huge difference, radiators that weren't heating well started to get more steam.

If you are going to insulate the mains in the cellar there is probably no point painting them. However I've never heard a discussion about using metallic paint on cellar mains. Think about it - if metallic paint on radiators cuts down on the heat given off by 15%, wouldn't painting the metal pipe of your mains silver cut down on heat output (in the cellar) by 15%, which is what you would want in that case?

I can't quote the source, but I know I've read that if you do paint your radiators with metallic paint, you can paint over this with latex and the heat retarding effect will be negated. Following that logic, maybe putting the pipe insulation over the metallic painted cellar main would cancel the 15% radiation reduction. But that leads to the question of whether wrapping the exterior of the insulation with something like aluminum foil or Reflectix would retard heat loss in addition to the insulation underneath it? Maybe someone should do an experiment under controlled conditions.