Insulation Experience

SteamBeez

Hello,



Just wanted to post my experience with insulating my basement pipes. After reading the Lost Art and several postings on this board which really hammer in the importance of steam heat pipe insulation, I decided to attack the project over the weekend. I live in an old house (1927) that has single pipe steam heating system. This is my first winter in this house and the top floor was always ten or more degrees cooler than the first floor which was cooler than the basement. The pipes hammered like no other. So, I did some due diligence and ordered 1" this JM branded Fiberglass insulation for the whole system. I, like many others out there, probably had asbestos insulation at some point which had been removed.



The first challenge was where to get the insulation from. I called just about every plumbing supply house within 50 miles from my home. No one had it in stock, but it would have to be ordered. I found a distributor located in Long Island City, NY called IDC Corp which was recommended on the board.



My shameless plug for them: IDC Corp has to be hands down one of the best customer service oriented businesses in the country. They were super helpful on the phone with the ordering process. Granted this is just for my house, I am not a large contractor which is what they probably deal with most of the time. The owner of the company (Thomas) actually hand delivered the insulation to me as he lives near me the day that I ordered it. I cant say that they will do this for everyone, but still amazing. He gave me a quick demo of how to install the elbows and the insulation and how to cut it properly. If anyone is in the tri-state area and looking for quality service and product at great prices and in-stock, I would highly recommend. I have no affiliation with this company, just a first time steam heat owner that had a very rare experience in this day and age with a locally owned small business in a world of Big Box home stores.



Back to the insulation: After a long weekend of wrapping pipes and the coldest weekend yet, I was able to see results. Not only is my basement back to being cool like it should be, but to my surprise, both floors in my house were evenly heated. I guess the exposed pipes in the basement were radiating all the heat before it made it to the second floor of my house. As for the water-hammer, virtually non-existent. Next task is going to be cleaning the valves though as they hiss like crazy still. I did clean up the mains with some boiling vinegar and that seems to free the air up.



Anyway, I am probably saving a boat load in energy costs and best of all, my wife is no longer complaining about our once frigid bedroom. This has to be, by far, the best bang for buck improvement I have made to my house since owning it. INSULATE THOSE PIPES.....IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!! EVERY EXPOSED BIT!!

Rod

Insulation

Glad it worked out for you! Insulation does make a huge difference!

- Rod

crash2009

Insulation

Excellent invention.  You will not believe how many dollars you will save.

vaporvac

vinegar on mains.

Hi,

Not to sound stupid, but what did you mean by, "I put vinegar on the mains to free up some air."? I'm trying to make some upgrades to my system when I replace the boiler and you piqued my curiousity. Thanks.  Colleen

SteamBeez

Vinegar

Hello,



I was referring to the fact that I removed the main air vents and put them in some boiling vinegar as this can help to free up any sediment that has collected inside the vent and blocks the air flow. It seemed to do the trick but I am replacing them anyway because I need more venting capacity.