I made a quick trip to Lowe’s yesterday to get some insulation for the hot water pipes in my house. This should decrease the amount of time we need to spend waiting for the hot water to reach the tap in our house. I’m hoping we’ll notice a difference, although I have my doubts. But I got 54 feet of insulation for $9.50, so I figured it was worth a shot. I doubt it will save us much money, even in the long run.

I spent a little time yesterday installing some of the pipe insulation, and am hoping to have the rest installed by the end of the week. It’s pretty easy going so far since the pipes are easily accessed above the drop ceiling in my basement. I also don’t need to worry about insulating a second floor’s worth of plumbing since the house is a ranch. With a little bit of electrical tape and some patience in removing ceiling tiles, I should be done in short order!

On a side note, I have hot water baseboard heat in my home. I’ve always wondered if I should insulate those pipes as well, and only have the pipes within the baseboard registers themselves uninsulated. Anyone ever done this sort of thing? I suppose it depends on how hot the water is towards the end of the heating loop. If the rooms at the end of the loop are getting much less heat than those at the beginning then maybe I should consider it. I’ll have to figure out a way to measure the temperature of the pipe in different locations. Maybe a temperature gun?