As hot water goes away from the hot water heater to faucets, shower heads and other outlets it cools and in turn you are wasting energy and paying for hot water that you are not getting. The best way to keep this from happening is to insulate as much of the hot water pipe as you can. You also want to insulate the at least 3 feet of the cold water pipe that enters into the hot water heater. There are basically two types of insulation made fro pipes, foam sleeves and foam tape which you can find at any hardware store or major box store. Either type of insulation can be used to insulate either straight runs of pipe or corners and bends. My favorite way to insulate pipe is to use the sleeves for the straight runs and the tape for corners.
You want to make sure when buying your insulation that you get foam sleeves that are slit to accept the pipe and that have adhesive strips to seal the seams. If you do not seal the seams you will lose a lot of heat and will really negate the work you have done. There are also different sizes of insulation in R-value (thickness) and diameter to fit around different sizes of hot water pipe. You want to get the thickest insulation you can get around your pipe as long as you are not touching walls or framing of the house. You want to look at what you are going to be insulating before buying your material because some areas are harder to get to with each type of insulation. Sometimes tape is easier and sometimes sleeves are easier.
To insulate a straight run with foam sleeves you need to measure the length of pipe to be covered and then cut it to length. Begin at one end and open at the slit while placing the insulation over the pipes. If you have to use more than one continuous piece of sleeve make sure the ends are butted up tightly to each other. Once you have completed covering the straight run you need to seal the joints with duct tape.
To insulate a corner with a sleeve you need to figure out what angle the corner is and cut it at the appropriate angle. Some sleeves can be bought with already angled ends on them. Once again tape the joint at the corner so you are not losing precious heat. If you come to a T joint simply cut tow 45-degree angles on one end of a third section and put it together.
If you are going to use tape to insulate your pipes you need to first clean and dry the entire pipe that you are going to be wrapping. As you start wrapping the pipe with tape you need to make sure that you are overlapping at least 1/4″ of the previous run, preferably 1″. When you come to an end you need to seal it with duct tape or with the tape that is provided with the insulation tape. You want to be careful not to compress the tape too tightly over the pipe and you want to be careful around corners as these areas are easy to leave gaps. If your insulation comes with plastic wrap you need to cover the insulation and seal with tape, if not you are good without it.
You now know how to insulate your pipes, this is a very easy process and it will be noticeable how efficient it will make your system. Every little bit counts in the downturn economy we are having and saving a few bucks a month on your hot water can make a difference.
