Has anyone insulated their hot water pipes?

[Mark N.]

I started thinking (That usually costs me money when I do that) about the fact that I have every hot-water pipe in my house covered with foam pipe insulation. I wondered "Why not do the same to my Montana?" It would save on propane and electricity costs, plus the hot-water pipes wouldn't be transferring the heat into the coach during the air-conditioning season. Thoughts?

[jcurtis934]

I think the problem will be access more than anything. The plumbing runs in my monte have a fair amount of branching which make it hard to feed foam insulation into the lines for the kitchen...rest is not bad to do. Can't see a downside to doing it except if you were trying to find a leak. John

[DarMar]

In cold weather camping it might be harder for a heat source to keep those lines warm but if cold weather isn't part of your plan....

[dieselguy]

Winter boredom upon you???? I don't think you'd save much on heating the water since in all your hot water runs, you might have 1/2 gallon total. Here's a shot of a typical Montana plumbing circuit behind your HW heater and convenience center.

[DQDick]

I agree that access would be your biggest problem, but not insurmountable. Not sure it would be worth all that effort, however. Many of us, when boon docking, only turn the water heater on when we are going to use it. A lot of the time that's once a day when showers and dishwashing take place. Since we're using the hot water all at once the lines stay warm and once we're done the heater goes off until the next day.

[1retired06]

Only issues we had in cold weather (Colorado) was heat wrap/insulation on outside water line and heat to the tanks.

[Charli]

In the house some of the runs could be quite long so insulations can be helpful. In an RV the runs are so short I doubt there is much benefit.

[sola123]

I insulated every water pipe I could get to...not only for the insulation value but also to help quiet any vibration from the water pump when dry camping....I think it was worth my trouble and expense.....