recommendations of insulation & gasket materials?

John Conway

I've just returned from my crawl space. I wouldn't send anyone there. Is it worse than I remember, do I understand more after time at the Wall, or is it getting worse? Who knows. My questions:

1. The current (asbestos) insulation on my steam pipes is in terrible condition. Putting aside the obvious grave health hazards with that, what replacements are best (or pretty good, anyway)? I'm in western S.C. with not much in the way of knowledgeable steam guys & limited sources for supplies.

2. I'm replacing two F&T trap head assemblies (dead t-stats). Other than anti-gravity, how do I make the gaskets stay put during re-assembly?

Generally, if I needed gasket material (for steam/water lines NOT gas lines), could I use silicone form-a-gasket goo for cars? What about rubber or cork/rubber sheets (again from the auto parts place)?

clammy

holding gaskets

Usally for assembling stuff like steam traps i use a small amount of regular pipe dope to hold the gasket on while assem and as for the gasket you can use cork gasket materal and in a jam you can use sheets of red gasket materal avable at supply house a good piece of card board works well just tap it out with a small hammer and cut out the rest good luck peace

[Deleted User]

i use

red gasket sealer from the auto parts store all the time on steam gaskets..i like the garloc material for steam gaskets..we use 1'' thick fiberglass insulation on the pipes.