What R value for steam pipe insulation is best

shoogeteene

Hi everyone,

I saw at one of my local Home Value stores Pipe insulation wrap. It is about 3-4 inches wide with a silver paper backing. It would be much easier to use this than fiberglass batts to wrap my steam pipes, but this stuff only has an R-value of 3.3.

How high an R-value do I really need to wrap steam pipe before i get diminishing returns?

I am thinking maybe I should just wrap the pipes with the regular batts and duct tape and then use this to kind of wrap it all up.

Also, an added benefit of wrapping the pipes is it will also reduce the number of lumps on my head from walking into the steam pipes, :)

Big Ed_4

I Dont think .....

.... rapping it with batten then duct tape would be less work . But I seen it done before ..I don't like the way it looks personally . It comes out all lumpy .fiberglass The fiberglass steam pipe is very easy to install , you cut it with a serrated knife to size , cup it around the pipe and seal the edge.. Also the hard fiberglass pipe insulation will not loose R value ..Rapping with batten and collapsing it with the duct tape will loose R value

scrook_3

about R4.3

common paper jacketed fiberglass pipe insulation has a k value (thermal CONDUCTIVITY per inch of thickness) of ~0.23 so the R value (thermal RESISTANCE) of ONE INCH of fiberglass would be 1/k or R 4.3.

Since standard practice is to use 1" for residential steam the desired R value is about 4.3.

If you're looking at R3.4 wrap it would be roughly equivalent to 3/4" fiberglass pipe insulation, so not too bad.

The regular 1" thick, 3 ft long paper covered fiberglass pipe insulation should be a lot easier and neater to apply (fittings excepted, where you'd use a wrap then cover w/ plastic insulation fitting covers), but the spiral wrap would be easier & neater and better than attempting to use fiberglass batts.

For what it's worth, if 1.5" insulation was used it would be about R6.5, 2" would be about R8.6, but 1/2" fiberglass would be only R2.2 or so.

Here's an on-line insulation vendor: http://expressinsulation.com/fiberglass_insulation.html

also see www.mcmaster.com, and others, though a local wholesaler may be less expensive.

Note much of the fiberglass pipe insulation available at hardware stores and home centers is only 1/2" thick (~R2.2).

shoogeteene

Thanks for the responses.

Looking at the prices of the pipe insulation at those sites I think i am just going to wrap the pipes in batts with duct tape and put another layer of the pipe wrap from my local store. Even if I get an R Value of only 6-8, I am hoping that will really help make a difference.

ttekushan_3

that first bit of insulation

makes the biggest difference. What you plan will make a huge difference.

scrook_3

R6-R8? You mean R2-R3?

Would be like 1.5" to 2" of fiberglass pipe insulation! And you thought the 1" stuff added up quick.

Even if you only end up at R2 you're still headed in the right direction, so go for it. Don't compress the batts too much though, lest they lose some of their insulating value.