Which Pipes Are the Water Pipes I Insulate?

[Brookie the Rookie]

Hi! I'm so thankful this forum exists.

We need to insulate the water pipes in our crawl space, and I was told it's easy enough to do by myself, however, when I went into the crawl space to get general measurements in order to purchase the correct amount of insulation, I was bombarded with a myriad of pipes. I'm unsure which pipes are the ones I actually need to insulate. I gather that the pipes with the red and blue tape are some of the water pipes, but what I need to learn is the answer to the following question; how can I determine which pipes are water pipes?

I took several pictures (I was allowed to attach 6 here).
Does anyone know which of these pipes are the ones I should be insulating?

Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

 

[bob_cville]

I'm not an expert, and from the looks of things neither were some of the plumbers who've worked there in the past.

If your plan is to insulate the hot water pipes only for energy loss reasons, one method of determining which are hot water pipes, is to turn on every hot water spigot, and then feel each of the pipes in the crawl space to see which ones feel warm. The convention is to use red pipes for hot water, and blue pipes for cold water, but it is not rigidly adhered to.

If your plan is to insulate both hot and cold water pipes to decrease the possibility of freezing, then pretty much all of the pipes you see, red white and blue.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Also, PEX ( under 1-1/4) should be supported every 32 inches max or closer.

 

[Jadnashua]

It's nice to insulate the hot pipes to save energy, but it may be useful to insulate the cold ones, too, that may prevent them sweating. That would depend somewhat on how well the crawlspace is sealed up.

It looks like they tried to mark some of the white pex pipe with colored tape, but I see one where it has both blue and red next to each other. That COULD be a hot water recirculation line, but can't tell from here. IF so, you'd want to make sure to insulate that line along with the hot to save energy. The cold is a nice thing, but not as critical.

 

[Brookie the Rookie]

@bob_cville

I'm not an expert, and from the looks of things neither were some of the plumbers who've worked there in the past. <---- I love that you said this! We bought a little over a year ago and we're finding out slowly but surely that just about every "upgrade" the previous owners' made was a less than brilliant move.

Thank you for the hot water spigot method, the note on the color code convention, and for the thought on perhaps simply insulating all of the red, white, and blue pipes--that may make the process a heck of a lot simpler.

Thank you, @bob_cville!

 

[Brookie the Rookie]

@Reach4 Great tip! Even as a human with exactly no experience in the pipe world, I had made a comment that it didn't look right to have those pipes drooping like they are, so thank you for making me feel smart. As I tackle this project, I will absolutely implement your knowledge and ensure that these pipes are supported every 32 inches maximum. Thank you for your help!

 

[Brookie the Rookie]

@jadnashua I really appreciate reading that I have your blessing to insulate both the cold and hot water pipes. While I have no clue how well the crawlspace is sealed, I'm not sure it will do any harm to just go for it with insulating both pipes--at least I'm going to pretend that's the case.

Yes, thank you for noticing the confusing blue and red pipe conundrum. I like the idea of that potentially being the hot water recirculation line and thus, I will plan on insulating that line as well. Thank you for the awesome advice!