After our recent blog about the dollar amount savings of adding pipe insulation to a non insulated heating system, we received another request for a similar calculation.  Dan F from Illinois asked approximately how much money he would save by insulating the heating pipes of the baseboard hot water heater in his basement.  To see the approx saving of Jeff M and his gas boiler pipes click here

This system has a main 1-1/2" Copper Line coming from the boiler that reduce to 3/4" copper lines that lead to the baseboard elements on the first and second floors.  There is approx 39ft of 1-1/2" copper pipe and all together about 48ft of exposed 3/4" copper piping.

DOLLAR SAVINGS FROM FIBERGLASS PIPE INSULATION EXAMPLE:

Fuel Type: Oil

Fuel Cost: $3.30/gallon (Provided)

Pipe Size: 1-1/2" Copper (1-1/4" on our site)

Pipe Length: 39ft

Pipe Size: 3/4" Copper (1/2" on our site)

Pipe Length: 48ft

Pipe Temperature: 180 F

Basement Temperature: 60 F (provided)

Running Hours: 1500hrs (10 hrs/day Nov-Mar)

RESULTS:

SURFACE TEMPERATURE:

No Insulation: Pipe Surface Temp: 180 F

1" Thickness: Insulation Surface Temp: 73 F

* Another crazy savings number! By adding only 1 inch of fiberglass pipe insulation, the surface temperature drops 107F. These numbers alone show how much heat the pipe insulation is retaining.

HEAT LOSS BTU/HR:

No Insulation: 7,945 btu/hr loss

1" Thickness: 1,379 btu/hr loss

* The heat loss for this heating system drops a staggering 83% by simply adding only 1 inch of fiberglass pipe insulation.

FUEL COST FOR LOSS:

No Insulation:$355 per heating season

1" Thickness: $62 per heating season ($293 saving/season)

*This is the cost for the heat loss (not total heating costs). By adding 1" thick pipe insulation the loss would be reduced by $293.

ACTUAL COST OF INSULATING PIPING:

39ft of 1-1/4 x 1 fiberglass pipe insulation and 48ft of 1/2 x 1 fiberglass pipe insulation costs $137.88 with shipping costs ranging for $30-$65. So the total cost of insulating all of the exposed piping is well under $200.  Similar to the first scenario, the cost of the water heater pipe insulation would be paid off well within the first heating season!