Winter household plumbing problems can often be tracked back to insulation – or a lack of insulation. Plumbing insulation is essential to keeping your pipes in good working condition through the coldest months of the year. Frozen pipes and heat loss can lead to property damage and wasted energy use, so invest in easy plumbing problem prevention with the following tips:
- Insulate your water heater to improve your comfort and lower your costs. If you have a traditional tank-style water heater, it’s undoubtedly part of the problem. These units lose massive amounts of heat to the surrounding environment.
There are two types of insulation for a water heater body. The first is a wrap and looks similar to a vest or coat. It literally wraps around the water heater like a vest. The second is just as easy to put on – a hot water heater bag. Contact a professional plumber at Mr. Rooter Plumbing of Greater Syracuse for more information on the latest appliance insulation.
- Insulate interior water pipes to reduce water waste and make the most of your hot water supply. During the winter, unused areas of your home are often colder than you would expect. What happens once hot water is moving through them? The heat is transferred from the water to the pipe. By the time the water reaches the faucet, it’s cold again. This is the reason water takes so long to warm up in the winter.
You can expedite this process by wrapping interior pipes in plumbing insulation and by using spray foam inside walls and floors. For piping in areas you don’t frequently use, wraps and batting should suffice. If the same pipes prove to be repeat problems, reconfiguring some of your piping may be necessary to prevent pipes from freezing and loosing too much heat year after year.
- Insulate pipes in exterior walls to prevent frozen, ruptured pipes and extensive property damage. Plumbing that runs through exterior walls, foundation and underground is at an increased risk for freezing and cracking. It’s also at an increased risk for going ignored. Oftentimes, homeowners don’t realize there’s a problem until they’re contacted by the water company.
Insulating exterior pipes can be difficult depending on their location and the surrounding materials. Thankfully, there is a full range of products on the market for efficiently dealing with this problem. Batting and spray foam insulation are the most popular products available, but there are also products that are specially meant for plumbing protection.
Worried that your insulation isn’t good enough to get you through the winter? Contact Mr. Rooter at (315) 472-1203 to schedule your appointment today.