If you are concerned about energy use in your home, your plumbing could have an effect. How is that? In many homes, pipes are located in the outer walls, and if they aren’t insulated, your hot water pipes could lose more than 20% of its heat before reaching the tap. Uninsulated pipes could also be a cause of potentially damaging condensation.

If you have pipes in your outer wall, there needs to be insulation on the pipe itself, and there should be as much insulation as possible between the pipe and the outer wall.

Three types of insulation commonly used are spiral insulation wrap, tubular pipe sleeves and fiberglass batts. If you decide to install this yourself, it is a fairly easy process. The main points to keep in mind are that you want the insulation to cover the pipes well and that you don’t wrap the insulation too tight, since this will decrease its effectiveness.