Pipe Insulation Question

JohnW2

About half of my steam pipes are insulated with the yellow fiberglass pipe  insulation and about half of the pipes are bare. I'm going to begin the process of insulating the rest of the pipes. I noticed that even the pipes that are insulated do not have any insulation on the connecting pieces. Just the straight pieces are insulated. It looks like it would be a little awkward to insulate the connectors. In the grand scheme of things, how important is it to insulate the connecting pieces? And what is the best way to do it? Just rig something up with wall insulation and duct tape?

Si_zim

PVC fitting insulation

Use these:

http://buyinsulationproducts.com/PVC_Fittings_Charts.html

They come with glass fiber insulation to fit inside. Maybe get a roll of that white tape with foil inside so you can bundle things up nicely.

Hap_Hazzard

If you don't care how it looks

fiberglass and duct tape are fine, but be careful not to compress the fiberglass. If you use 2" insulation make sure it stands out a full two inches in all directions. Compressing it--even just a little--severely reduces its R-value.

JamesC in Stamford CT

insulating the pipes and not the connections

When I bought my house the pipes were bare. I insulated with 1" fiberglass pipe insulation, and I have NOT yet insulated the connections -- that seemed too much of a hassle at the time. But, just doing the piping has saved a LOT of heat. In terms of surface area of the system, probably 95% (?)is now covered.



So if all you have money to is the pipes only, or if all the time you have now is for pipes only, that even just that will save you $$ this heating season. The connections will take longer in terms of payback.



But if you hold your hand 4 inches away from the piping, at the joints that are now bare, you can feel all that heat radiating off, and at the insulated parts, you feel nothing. So it's all a matter of degree. Insulating the pipes will do most of the job, just not all of it. If you are going to live in the house a long time it makes sense to do the job right and insulate everything.