Insulating steam pipes in basement
The steam pipes in the basement of my brownstone are uninsulated. The basement/ground floor get very warm, but upstairs takes quite a while to heat. I am interested in insulating the pipes. The main pipes coming from the boiler are 2 1/2″ diameter. What is the best way to insulate them? Looked at options at…
The steam pipes in the basement of my brownstone are uninsulated. The basement/ground floor get very warm, but upstairs takes quite a while to heat. I am interested in insulating the pipes. The main pipes coming from the boiler are 2 1/2″ diameter. What is the best way to insulate them? Looked at options at Lowes (paper-wrapped, split fiberglass tubes only went up to 2″ vs foil covered pipe wrap vs bare fiberglass wrap).
Any ideas appreciated.
Check your air vents on the rads that aren’t getting hot. You may need to replace them. Get the Gorton brand and a chart. It will tell you which vent to put on each rad in proximity to the boiler location. IE: distance from the boiler. Check out Bruce Supply in Bay Ridge. They’re one of the best supply houses in Brooklyn. Get the 1-1/2″ thick insulation if you can. You can also get the fittings to cover the elbows, tee’s etc., which will make it a nice well done job. If you have a hard time finding the insulation call: Westside Plumbing Supply. We’re in New Joisey but we stock it all. Ask for Bill(dats me) I’ll be glad to help you out if you feel like taking a drive over the bridges. Not too far from the Goethals Bridge. 908-351-3600
Wrapped ours with the stuff from Home Depot last week. Cooled the basement down nicely, which is great. But the adhesive on ’em sucked, and they’re not cheap. Annoyed about that. Easy enough to fix with good tape, though. Good move overall, definitely. You can get them at least as large as 3.5 inches if HD bothers to stock it.
When I bought my house (3-story brownstone) I surveyed the temp on each floor because the heating bill was high. The cellar was always warmest at 78 degrees. I wrapped the hot water lines where ever I could reach them. I had bought out the entire inventory of 6′ black wrap from a Dart store in Maryland because they had a sale. I used it all.
The hot water ran hotter, quicker, and the cellar temp went down to 72 degrees.
I then went after the heating lines(hot water). I measured everything (caliper and tape measure). You’ll need several diameters and they’re sold only with the inside pipe diameter listed; therefore, you need to measure the outside pipe diameter and match it at HD. You don’t want to run out of the right-size or overbuy so be careful. I acquired fiberglass split-wrap from Home Depot. I had to go among several outlets to complete the job. One big job can wipe out the inventory for a particular diameter. Elbows were wrapped with rolls of self-sticking rubber. I then went back and wrapped it all again with Reflectix [sic] and aluminum tape from Lowes. This is bubble-wrap sandwiched between aluminum foil. The cellar was a constant 60 degrees last winter. House above is comfy and gas billings are lower.
There are other things you should also do (seal/insulate ceiling; Seal/insulate foundation walls and any openings to the outside) but wrapping works.
I insulated our basement pipes this weekend. What you have are 2 inch pipes (measured by the inside diameter). I bought 2 inch insulation tubes with 1/2 inch fiberglass insulation at Park Slope Plumbing on 5th ave. They were $4.69 per three foot length. Super easy to install. You just slip them over the pipes and tape them closed. Wear gloves and safety goggles. My one regret is not getting 1 inch thick fiberglass, as it’s a better insulater. But I would have had to special order and it was more like $8 per piece.
The split fiberglass comes in 2 1/2″. Either Lowes doesn’t carry it or is out. I got some a while back at Leopoldi’s.
But insulation isn’t the reason the upstairs pipes aren’t getting hot. You may need bigger valves on the upper floor radiators. Or your boiler may be cycling too fast. Also, make sure all your radiators are on.
When the boielr has been off a while, turn the thermostat way up, tehn go into the basement and walk around the house to see wht heats up quickly and what not. Steam moves fast, so you can’t be losing heat so fast in the cellar that it doesn’t make it upstairs.