Insulating gas furnace warm air vent

Posted by traveller2k on February 12, 2007, 9:31 pm

Hi,

my gas furnace sits in the laundry room in the basement and there is a
lot of heat that comes off the pipe the sends the hot air up into the
house. I went to HD and asked about wrapping some form of insulation
around the pipe. I was first told to use batting wrapped in plastic.
Thought this was not going to work given the amount of heat that comes
off the pipe. Of course I wasted money on that after seeing the
batting turn brown and fall off the pipe (had it taped on with heat
resistent tape). Went back and someone else provided me with a foil
wrap that sandwiches bubble wrap - I think it had an R rating of 4.
Went on easily but as soon as the furnace kicked on, the bubble wrap
shrunk and is now just a piece of foil wrapped around the piping. Im
starting to think this isnt meant to be. I have only found stuff
online that talks about insulating the heating ducts but nothing that
provides any info on insulating the actual pipe that comes out of the
top of the furnace. Is there such a thing?

Thanks.

Traveller

Posted by DIMwit on February 12, 2007, 10:41 pm

so far, it sounds like you are in the try outs for a Darwin award.

> Hi,
> my gas furnace sits in the laundry room in the basement and there is a
> lot of heat that comes off the pipe the sends the hot air up into the
> house. I went to HD and asked about wrapping some form of insulation
> around the pipe. I was first told to use batting wrapped in plastic.
> Thought this was not going to work given the amount of heat that comes
> off the pipe. Of course I wasted money on that after seeing the
> batting turn brown and fall off the pipe (had it taped on with heat
> resistent tape). Went back and someone else provided me with a foil
> wrap that sandwiches bubble wrap - I think it had an R rating of 4.
> Went on easily but as soon as the furnace kicked on, the bubble wrap
> shrunk and is now just a piece of foil wrapped around the piping. Im
> starting to think this isnt meant to be. I have only found stuff
> online that talks about insulating the heating ducts but nothing that
> provides any info on insulating the actual pipe that comes out of the
> top of the furnace. Is there such a thing?
> Thanks.
> Traveller
>

Posted by Bubba on February 13, 2007, 8:30 am

Sorry. That award is locked up for the year.
DANgER is the proud owner of the year of the Darwin Award.
He'll probably grab it for all of next year too.
Bubba

wrote:

>so far, it sounds like you are in the try outs for a Darwin award.

>> Hi,
>> my gas furnace sits in the laundry room in the basement and there is a
>> lot of heat that comes off the pipe the sends the hot air up into the
>> house. I went to HD and asked about wrapping some form of insulation
>> around the pipe. I was first told to use batting wrapped in plastic.
>> Thought this was not going to work given the amount of heat that comes
>> off the pipe. Of course I wasted money on that after seeing the
>> batting turn brown and fall off the pipe (had it taped on with heat
>> resistent tape). Went back and someone else provided me with a foil
>> wrap that sandwiches bubble wrap - I think it had an R rating of 4.
>> Went on easily but as soon as the furnace kicked on, the bubble wrap
>> shrunk and is now just a piece of foil wrapped around the piping. Im
>> starting to think this isnt meant to be. I have only found stuff
>> online that talks about insulating the heating ducts but nothing that
>> provides any info on insulating the actual pipe that comes out of the
>> top of the furnace. Is there such a thing?
>> Thanks.
>> Traveller
>>

Posted by CJT on February 12, 2007, 10:47 pm

traveller2k wrote:

> Hi,
>
> my gas furnace sits in the laundry room in the basement and there is a
> lot of heat that comes off the pipe the sends the hot air up into the
> house. I went to HD and asked about wrapping some form of insulation
> around the pipe. I was first told to use batting wrapped in plastic.
> Thought this was not going to work given the amount of heat that comes
> off the pipe. Of course I wasted money on that after seeing the
> batting turn brown and fall off the pipe (had it taped on with heat
> resistent tape). Went back and someone else provided me with a foil
> wrap that sandwiches bubble wrap - I think it had an R rating of 4.
> Went on easily but as soon as the furnace kicked on, the bubble wrap
> shrunk and is now just a piece of foil wrapped around the piping. Im
> starting to think this isnt meant to be. I have only found stuff
> online that talks about insulating the heating ducts but nothing that
> provides any info on insulating the actual pipe that comes out of the
> top of the furnace. Is there such a thing?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Traveller
>

First identify, and distinguish, the flue and the duct. The duct
shouldn't get much hotter than 150 degrees F, so there are several
choices of insulation available, like fiberglass.

But if you melted the "bubblewrap" (by the way, that's designed for
radiant barriers, not for what you did with it), I suspect you wrapped
it around the flue (despite your saying it goes "up into the house,"
which the flue had better not). That can get a lot hotter. You should
probably leave it alone.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.

Posted by on February 13, 2007, 12:26 am

> traveller2k wrote:

> > Hi,
> > my gas furnace sits in the laundry room in the basement and there is a
> > lot of heat that comes off the pipe the sends the hot air up into the
> > house. I went to HD and asked about wrapping some form of insulation
> > around the pipe. I was first told to use batting wrapped in plastic.
> > Thought this was not going to work given the amount of heat that comes
> > off the pipe. Of course I wasted money on that after seeing the
> > batting turn brown and fall off the pipe (had it taped on with heat
> > resistent tape). Went back and someone else provided me with a foil
> > wrap that sandwiches bubble wrap - I think it had an R rating of 4.
> > Went on easily but as soon as the furnace kicked on, the bubble wrap
> > shrunk and is now just a piece of foil wrapped around the piping. Im
> > starting to think this isnt meant to be. I have only found stuff
> > online that talks about insulating the heating ducts but nothing that
> > provides any info on insulating the actual pipe that comes out of the
> > top of the furnace. Is there such a thing?
> > Thanks.
> > Traveller

> First identify, and distinguish, the flue and the duct. The duct
> shouldn't get much hotter than 150 degrees F, so there are several
> choices of insulation available, like fiberglass.
> But if you melted the "bubblewrap" (by the way, that's designed for
> radiant barriers, not for what you did with it)

Sorry slick, but foil/bubble/foil or foil/bubble/bubble/foil **IS** and CAN
BE used for insulating supply/return ducts.

Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 > last >>

Similar Threads	Posted
furnace vent tube in wall and stove hood vent	March 13, 2007, 11:12 pm
Insulating exterior ducting	December 29, 2008, 4:14 pm
Trane Nat. Vent furnace	December 1, 2006, 9:13 am
Furnace vent question ...	July 4, 2008, 9:30 pm
High eff furnace vent	May 11, 2009, 1:10 pm
insulating 6" round metal duct form attic air handler	June 2, 2007, 8:36 am
Insulating cold water pipes & supply tank to prevent condensation	June 7, 2007, 8:18 am
Retrofit existing gas furnace with power vent?	August 25, 2007, 2:46 pm
B vent compatible with standard vent duct?	April 13, 2007, 5:08 pm
80% gas furnace RUUD in a icyenene foamed attic - Need a combustion air vent solution	March 15, 2009, 9:26 pm