How to Insulate Your Water Lines

I've seen a lot of articles mentioning insulating your water lines, but none go into a lot of detail as to how to do this. In most homes the water heater is the second largest energy user. So if you'd like to save some money I'd strongly recommend this project.

Things You'll Need

• Pipe insulation
• Foam pipe insulation tape
• Knife
• Tape measure
• Pen and paper

Instructions

1. 

   Get your supply list ready. You need to find a starting point on your water lines and measure it's outside dimensions (outside to outside). Ex. 1/2", 3/4", ect... Write that number down cause it may change later. Now measure from your starting point until the size of pipe changes. Write that number down. Keep doing this till you've measured all the piping your going to insulate. Now take your numbers and add them up to figure out how many total feet you're going to need for each size pipe. I'd add 5 feet to your total to make sure you have enough (you can return what you don't use).

2. 

   Go to Lowes and pick up your supplies. Everything should be located in the pluming section. To help make sure you get the right stuff I would recommend getting some assistance from a store associate. Make sure to talk to the employee about thickness of the insulation and see what he recommends for your situation.

3. 

   Now get ready to go to work. Notice the insultube is split longways with a plastic protector film protecting the tape adhesive.

4. 

   At the pipe spread the wrap over the water line and walk it onto the pipe. Then cut it to fit. Once the insultube is on the pipe pull the plastic strips from the tape and push the insultube together creating a bond.

5. 

   Where ever the pipe turns or two pieces of insultube meet up together tape it with the foam insulation tape to keep it sealed and from coming apart.

6. 

   While your chasing down your water lines this is the perfect time to check for unsealed penetrations through walls or floors in your house. I would recommend using some Great Stuff to create a nice tight seal. Also as you're doing this project look for any signs of water leaks at all your pipe connections.

Tips & Warnings

• Most people are only concerned with insulating hot water lines. Which is fine, keep the hot water hot. But consider your cold water lines. If they're above an occupied space and aren't insulated you may get some condensation issues, and also the possibility of your cold water lines freezing.

• If you see snake skins under your house be very careful.

• It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a friend with you while doing this project.

Resources

• Link to lowes insultube
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