Fiberglass Insulation Vs Asbestos

New England SteamWorks

Just had a great customer borrow a $50k thermal imaging camera and train it on one of my installs. He reports that the new 1" fiberglass is 5 degrees cooler than the original asbestos insulation (which is in excellent shape by the way), and that the fittings with original mastic insulation are 30 to 40 degrees warmer than the pipes. Because of arguments here, I asked him to check the pvc/fiberglass fittings. He says he'll get back to me with a bunch of neat info on that and other stuff. I will post when I get it.

vaporvac

That is outstanding. I hope he takes some pics, as well.

New England SteamWorks

Yes, he did. I've seen a preview in an instant message. Just waiting for the email and I will post.

gerry gill

humm, my experience has been different. Ive found the 1'' asbestos cell to be better than the maying 1'' fiberglass..

New England SteamWorks

Here is some neat info:

New England SteamWorks

Here is a photo of the existing asbestos, which as I say, is in good shape:

SWEI

Ooooh, data...
{engineer brain candy}

hot_rod

Great pics, may I use them in training presentations, with credit of course?

zackwatt

You can buy a FLIR camera that attaches to an iPhone for around $200. You can see all three conditions in my house below:

Background Main Pipe: Asbestos insulated pipe.
Foreground Main Pipe: Fiberglass insulated on the left side, uninsulated on the right side.



The fiberglass is cooler than the asbestos, but it's also thicker.

SWEI

Right, and the asbestos has probably had 60 years to degrade it's R-value.

zackwatt

SWEI said:

Right, and the asbestos has probably had 60 years to degrade it's R-value.

96 years actually!

Leon82

The fiberglass is a little cheaper to get rid of too.

SWEI

For now...