Why You Should Insulate Your Pipes
Insulating Pipes is one of the cheapest and easiest solutions to cutting your energy bill and saving you money, quickly. Proper insulation not only helps you save on your hot water bill each month, it also protects your pipes from freezing and breaking during cold snaps in the winter, which often result in messy and expensive cleanup and repair projects.
A good test to see if your pipes could benefit from insulation is to lightly touch your fingers to the pipe in question and see if it’s warm to the touch. If so, your pipes are good candidates for insulation. You can use the same method with your water heater to see if it too could be insulated to save you money and protect it from future damage.
Most hardware stores sell pre-slit pipe foam that can be cut and fastened into place around pipes using standard duct tape. Ideally, look for insulation with the highest R-value available, since this is a good measure of its heat-blocking ability. Generally good insulation should be somewhere between R-3 and R-7 for most pipes.
While legislation is always changing, currently the federal government offers a tax credit of up to 30% of the cost of insulation, up to $1,500 when proven to have been done in an energy efficient manner. Additionally, low-income households may also qualify for an average of $6,500 worth of tax credits toward weatherizing their home. To find out about your state’s program and guidelines for energy efficient tax credits
