Working for cooler temps

Yeah, that's right, COOLER temperatures. Why would anyone do such a thing in Chicago in January?? Good question. The answer is, that one of my plumbing contractors turned me on to a wholesaler who would sell to me, and had in stock, the 4" pipe insulation that I needed to insulate the pipes in my downstairs living area. These pipes run straight from the boiler and shoot all of the hot water to the radiators to heat the building. At 6 1/2' off the ground, the pipe is pretty warm and just above your noggin.

For the better part of 15 years, I've just opened a window because I couldn't find the insulation that I wanted anywhere. I knew it existed, or at least used to exist, because the previous owner had left a few pieces and I put them up in the bedroom downstairs. The pieces I bought yesterday were even better though, a full 1" thick insulation. Nice. Here are some pics:




Notice they are pre-formed and 3' in length. They also have a self sealing strip so they are pretty simple to use (have to be for me!).










Here's the pipe from the boiler room going through the back bedroom. I took off one piece of insulation before I took this picture.












The rest of the back room, pre-installation of the new stuff.













The back room after the new insulation has been installed!! Doesn't look THAT much different in the pictures, but it makes a big difference in temperature.







The new living room insulation. I didn't buy an elbow piece, though I might go back and do that. It doesn't really bother me though.










There are no radiators downstairs so these pipes were heating the basement area. Now they are 90% covered and not emitting much heat, so I can walk through my entire house now with a sweater on!! Yay for me! I also had the broken valve on the radiator in the guest bedroom fixed and the heat turned off in there as well. Three radiators heat my place up just fine upstairs and it's significantly cooler downstairs.