Steam Pipe Fiberglass Insulation versus Asbestos air cell insulation
Good day. I am redoing my basement and my steam heat pipes are exposed. Some of the asbestos aircell insulation is gone. I would like to replace it with a safer fiberglass pipe insulation. I have been trying to find out the r value of the existing asbestos aircell pipe wrap material (with no luck). I am trying to see what thickness fiberglass pipe insulation I should put back in place of the asbestos. Also, do I need to insulate the returns as well.
Insulation
I have no clue what R factor asbestos pipe insulation is. However I've removed it from pipes and installed 1" fiberglass pipe insulation in it's place, and my intuition is that the fiberglass insulation is at least as good as an equivelent thickness of asbestos.
All the exposed piping in the basement should be insulated with a minimum of 1" fiberglass pipe insulation.
Bob
Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @112,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
3PSI gauge
thans for your info
I went with 2 inch fiberglass pipe on any pipe over 2 inches and 1.5 on any pipe two inches and under. I purchased them from IDC CORP. Ask for Rob he is very helpful.
thanks for your info
I went with 2 inch fiberglass pipe on any pipe over 2 inches and 1.5 on any pipe two inches and under. I purchased them from IDC CORP. Ask for Rob he is very helpful.
R Value of Pipe Insulation
The R-Value of pipe insulation will differ depeding on the size of the pipe it is applied to. The R-Value is very similar no matter what insulation material is used (for same size pipe). It is somewhere in the neighborhood of R-4 per inch, so 2" thickness would give you approx R-8.
R Value of Pipe Insulation
The R-Value of pipe insulation will differ depending on the size of the pipe it is applied to. The R-Value is very similar no matter what insulation material is used (for same size pipe). It is somewhere in the neighborhood of R-4 per inch, so 2" thickness would give you approx R-8.
