The Benefits of Pipe Insulation

There are many things you can do during the colder months of the year to save on heating and other energy costs. You don’t want to have drafts coming into your home so that your heater has to work harder, and you don’t want to chance that your pipes are going to freeze over. That can cause more damage than just a higher heating bill. If your pipes were to burst, you would have a lot of water damage to take care of and a high cost for fixing those pipes. You want to think about pipe insulation to avoid such a problem.

Pipe insulation is not something you have to worry about as much when you live in warmer climes, but you may want to make sure you have it done anyway. For one, this type of security can save you small amounts of energy by keeping your water at temperature when it comes through the pipes. If hot water is cooling before it gets to you, your system is going to have to work a bit harder to get you the hot water that you need. Pipe insulation is going to keep your hot water hot, just like you need it.

When you live where the winter comes each year, and the temps dip below freezing on any given day, pipe insulation is very important. This will stop your pipes from freezing. When water freezes, it expands, and that can mean water sitting in your pipes causes a leak or even a full break. Once the water thaws, it is going to run everywhere. Insulation for pipes is going to stop this from happening much of the time.

The reason why this type of pipe insulation is so important is because though you have some pipes that are heated by your home heating system, much of the system is not. Those pipes running through your cold basement or through the walls with very little insulation are the ones that are going to burst. Those are also the ones that are going to cause the most damage if you don’t think about pipe insulation. If something bursts in the walls, you have to clean it up, but you also run the risk of mold forming in the walls where you can not get to it to clean it up. That can be toxic.

You can go about pipe insulation on your own in some cases, but you are probably going to need help if you have an older home. When it comes to newer homes, the contractors probably thought of this and it is not something that you have to worry about. However, older homes were not always built with this specific problem in mind. The pipes you can see are the ones you can do on your own, but you may have to hire someone to come in to help you with pipe insulation when you have pipes that have been uncovered and are running through the walls, floors, or the basement.