Insulation for Hot Water Pipe

[Dante99]

I have a 20+ meter run of grey hot water pipe in the crawl space under my Chiang Mai house. In the winter the water looses a lot of heat and I would like to insulate the pipe with high quality material available in Thailand. What are the good materials for this ?

[lopburi3]

I suspect the only option may be foam used for air conditioning - this is not a cold weather country and very few people, other than a few foreigners and hotels, have hot water lines.

[stoneyboy]

You need something like Climaflex or one of the other brands,we always used Armaflex in the UK for lagging copper and Pvc pipes.

Not sure about the availability here never tried to purchase it.

[In the jungle]

My hot water system is copper pipe. 15mm I think.

The pipe runs are quite short but I have not been able to find any good quality insulation here. Everything I have seen in Thailand appears to be made from natural rubber.

[fredge45]

The aircon foam works just fine... you can wrap it with a duct tape to hold it securely.

[Dante99]

Thankd for the ideas. Anybody tried that black tape they use on aircon pipes?

[Pib]

Thankd for the ideas. Anybody tried that black tape they use on aircon pipes?

I've never seen them use "black tape" on aircon pipes...it always a grey color which is different in texture, stretching, sticking capability, etc., compared to common black PVC tape usually used for electrical insulation. If you are seeing black tape on air con piping they are probably not using the correct type of tape..instead they are going cheap with common black PVC electrical tape.

[In the jungle]

The Thai (AC) insulation may be OK in your application where, I assume, it is not subject to UV and knocks and abrasion.

In my application it is pretty hopeless.

[Dante99]

One other problem with the foam ac insullation is that the rats like to chew it up to make their nests.

Pib: Sorry if I got the color of the ari con tape wrong. I am not referring to electricial tape which I am very familiar with. Still have the question: Would the ac tape be effective on a hot water pipe? Would it last or would there be problems because of the heat? Anyone know or tried it?

Edited January 21, 2016 by Dante99

[Pib]

One other problem with the foam ac insullation is that the rats like to chew it up to make their nests.

Pib: Sorry if I got the color of the ari con tape wrong. I am not referring to electricial tape which I am very familiar with. Still have the question: Would the ac tape be effective on a hot water pipe? Would it last or would there be problems because of the heat? Anyone know or tried it?

The A/C "tape" I was referring to is just tape with no insulation...and specifically I was referring to the tape they put on many flexible A/C drain and freon pipes that serves more as an condensation and environmental protection barrier (i.e, from sun and rain). Plus it uses a different type of glue on the tape to help it stick better on A/C pipes...it can also take paint better than standard PVC tape.

Although a person could easily think any foam insulation would work long term around a cold pipe (like a freon pipe) or a hot pipe (like a hot water pipe) and both seem to look the same that is not the case. Take a look at below weblink for more info.

http://www.thermaxxjackets.com/difference-between-hot-and-cold-insulation-materials/

[Dante99]

One other problem with the foam ac insullation is that the rats like to chew it up to make their nests.

Pib: Sorry if I got the color of the ari con tape wrong. I am not referring to electricial tape which I am very familiar with. Still have the question: Would the ac tape be effective on a hot water pipe? Would it last or would there be problems because of the heat? Anyone know or tried it?

The A/C "tape" I was referring to is just tape with no insulation...and specifically I was referring to the tape they put on many flexible A/C drain and freon pipes that serves more as an condensation and environmental protection barrier (i.e, from sun and rain). Plus it uses a different type of glue on the tape to help it stick better on A/C pipes...it can also take paint better than standard PVC tape.

Although a person could easily think any foam insulation would work long term around a cold pipe (like a freon pipe) or a hot pipe (like a hot water pipe) and both seem to look the same that is not the case. Take a look at below weblink for more info.

http://www.thermaxxjackets.com/difference-between-hot-and-cold-insulation-materials/

Thanks for the link.

Tape confusion. If you look further at Thai AC installations you will find that they often wrap the pipes with a sticky, foam insulation tape which is black. The grey tape you described has a very different purpose.

[Pib]

Yes they do...and sometimes they add on A/C grey colored tape, especially on portions of the drain lines...usually the flexible portions, for additional environmental/condensation protection. Grey also stands out much less visually on the side of a residence than black. I'm trying to find some of that grey colored A/C tape right now to rewrap a flexible drain line I had to open-up in order to unclog. This old A/C tape I've been carrying around to stores like HomePro and Global only to be told "no have". They always offer up the cloth take as a substitute but the texture, stretching ability, etc., is completely different. For a temporary measure I did wrap it with cloth tape but it already beginning to come off after only two weeks due to the pipe condensation. I'll find it...expect I'll need to talk to some local A/C guy/buy it off him.