Pipes for your heating system should always be insulated. Otherwise the heat will end up dissipating before reaching the farthest reaches of your home, and you will end up with some warm rooms and some cold rooms. You will also waste a lot of money on your heating bills. Systems that use hot water or steam need to be insulated to help avoid injuries as well since they get very hot. However, you must use proper steam pipe insulation for this, and it must be rated to be able to handle the temperatures that your pipes reach.
Most pipe insulation can only handle 120-200 degrees F. of heat, depending on the type of piping that is used. However, steam heating systems can get up to 450 degrees F. Special steam pipe insulation is available to be used for insulating these pipes. This steam pipe insulation is rated for up to 500 degrees F.
Although in the past steam pipe insulation consisted of asbestos blankets, now that we know the dangers of asbestos these are no longer used, except for in some homes where they are already in use and have been covered to minimize the danger of asbestos getting into the air. Fiberglass steam pipe insulation is much more common now.
State Supply sells fiberglass steam pipe insulation that has an outside cover made of white Kraft paper bound to aluminum. It is easy to install because it has a split down the center to make it simple to get it around the pipe, and it has a peel-off, self sealing lap as well. It can be used for copper pipe (up to two inches in diameter) or iron pipe (up to six inches in diameter) and comes in three foot sections that are one inch thick.
In order to extend the life of you steam pipe insulation and further limit any risks of injury from the hot pipe, you can also add on a protective PVC covering, as well as PVC pipe fitting covers so that the fittings are insulated and covered as well. However, these covers are not absolutely necessary. They are recommended for any steam pipe insulation that is in a high traffic area though.
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Mike
Posted 165 days ago
Wow, this is an interesting article. We just bought an older home and I seriously doubt theres insulation on those pipes. As soon as I get home from work I'm going to check it out.
