Your steam pipes were originally insulated with asbestos. All steam systems were. It was too important not to. But at some point in the past your asbestos was removed, and never replaced. Likely due to concerns over asbestos hazards.
Why is steam pipe insulation so important? Because steam is a gas. A gas that wants to be a liquid. When a gas (around 212º depending on pressure), steam is loaded with BTUs, ready to warm your radiators. But at 211º it becomes a liquid and worthless! One degree change! Hot water pipes are a different story. We often don’t insulate these. Because water is not a gas. It doesn’t go from 100 to zero in an instant the way steam does. Insulating hot water pipes will save 2º to 4º at the most. You’ll still have 97% of your hot water without insulating. Steam however, is a whole different story.
Think about it: When your boiler runs, you’re spending money. When it’s off, you’re saving. How do we reduce the boiler run time? Well, we could turn the thermostat down. But what if we got the steam to move faster? Wouldn’t that do the trick? Of course it would. We know that the heat loss of an uninsulated steam pipe is five times that of an insulated one. So steam in an insulated pipe is going to move five times faster, right? We’re not talking small change here folks. Five times. Insulating steam piping is very important.
Your steam will travel five times faster to your radiators, which will heat them up five times faster. The sooner the radiators heat up, the sooner the boiler shuts off! Without insulation, much of your steam is going to stay in your basement. It won’t be going upstairs to heat your home. And your boiler won’t be turning off anytime soon. That costs a lot of energy.
So let’s get you wrapped up and saving energy. Click the link above for your free estimate. You’ve nothing to lose but high fuel bills.
We offer asbestos pipe insulation removal too, should you need it.