-
Insulation Wraps for Exhaust Systems
I run outside exclusively. I’ve done several runs now, and have noticed it takes considerably longer to heat everything up now than it did when it was hotter. I added the propane shroud around the base of my boiler and that has helped some, but I want to insulate my riser, still head, arm and thumper head and see if it will save a little gas in the long run. I’m hoping to be able to run this winter, so I started experimenting with a run this weekend, adding some standard pipe insulation. I had a couple of the rubber pipe insulation sections laying around, not the foam ones the nice pliable rubber. I put one around my lyne arm between my boiler and thumper. Worked great, secured it with some Velcro straps. I also managed to get a couple of 1″ pieces around the thumper head, figured once the still was cool, I’d fine tune everything and add the parts I hadn’t done yet. Well, yesterday when I tried to pull everything apart and clean up, everything that had the rubber insulation on it had areas where the rubber had melted and adhered to the copper. D’OH! Took a couple of extra hours cleaning to get it off. I tried Scotch-Brite, sanding and finally landed at course steel wool to get it off. It was stuck on there good. I didn’t think it would melt given the operating temps, but it sure did. SO…..I started looking for an alternative and saw one post on here that mentioned exhaust wrap. I’ve used it for years on motorcycles and it works great, but I can’t find a lot about it on here. I live in the southern United States so I don’t need much insulation but thought it might work. Anyone have any experience. It’s cheap enough I might try it if no one has, but you guys have tried everything, though; right? Edit: I do plan to add at least one layer of Refletix to the thumper.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
27 Replies
-
I hope your case is rare. I have some nice 1 inch thick pipe foam insulation for all my lyne arms and columns. I’m wondering now if I should use 1 wrap of some of that aluminum covered foam insulation for my boiler, to protect my foam.
-
Me too, it wasn’t the foam insulation, it was this stuff. I have some of the regular foam insulation too, it may not adhere as much or at all, but I’m a little gun shy at this point. It was a pain to get it all off my still parts.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
I use an old wool blanket and 100% cotton towel.Set the still up. Check for leaks and wrap it up. Takes a minute.Bungee cords and reusable zip ties to hold it in place.”What harms us is to persist in self deceit and ignorance”Marcus AureliusI’m not an alcoholic! I’m a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings!
-
Also, not a bad idea and may be where I end up.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
I was lookin for something suitable as well to wrap my column Amazon sell a roll of felt, wool that would be suitable no plastic/rubber to meltOr may be local plumbing depot, Currently i use towels for the column and my old fleece jacket and a blanket for the boiler.Reefer1
-
Me too, it wasn’t the foam insulation, it was this stuff. I have some of the regular foam insulation too, it may not adhere as much or at all, but I’m a little gun shy at this point. It was a pain to get it all off my still parts.RustyI’ve used this brand from Lowes and the only thing that tended to stick to the riser was the adhesive strip that joined the insulation. The rubber foam insulation itself did not stick at all to the pipe. I’ve also used this rubber foam insulation. That stuff is not split so it doesn’t have an adhesive strip. This stuff did not stick to the pipe either.4″ VM Build
-
Reflectix insulation is easy enough to work with. You should be able to wind at least two layers around your pipe and secure it with velcro strap or even Reflectix tape. Reflectix tape works really well and looks good too (no need for velcro).4″ VM Build
-
Thanks Salt, I like the idea of using Reflectix, I have a roll and some tape in my shop. I’m definitely going to try that for the copper along with the thumper.I think I might try several different things and see what works the best, I am staying away from the regular pipe insulation at this point, that’s 2 1/2 hours of pain in the butt that I am going to avoid in the future. I have some exhaust wrap that will be here today and I have the other stuff we talked about on hand in my shop. I’ll update once I decide what works the best for my situation.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
Rusty,I cover my riser and exposed steam pipes with silicone sheeting that I got from Amazon. The sheets come in 1′ x 6′ rolls and are good to 480F.I wrap the silicone with neoprene and secure it with velcro straps or hose clamps. The neoprene is said to withstand 200F but never sees close to that thanks to the silicone. Silicone baking sheet “Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”- W.C. Fields My EZ Solder Shotgun My Steam Rig and Manometer
-
My wife uses that stuff, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the idea Twisted.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
Ok, I thought I’d give a bit of an update on what I found out worked this past weekend. I said I wasn’t gonna do it, but I did it anyway, I used some of the foam pipe insulation, the cheap stuff and it didn’t stick at all, not even a little bit. In places where it was really mashed against the pipe it even heated up enough to form itself around things without sticking. I used it and a combo of a cotton towel and a couple of cotton rags in the 2″ elbow corners that seemed to like to be exposed. Thanks for the advice guys, it worked good, was up and running in a couple of hours at 31°F on Saturday morning and 36°F on Sunday morning. Only slightly longer than my warm weather warm up. I did build a temporary “still house” that’s going to be up for this weekend too. I took an EazyUp wrapped it in moving blankets and tarps. It holds the heat in ok and I have a fan set up at the open corner, pulling air out at ground level, to make sure I don’t have CO2 build up.The good news is, after I get my wife’s greenhouse built (currently underway), I have the greenlight to build a permanent still shed. She really likes my product so far and has jumped on board, full tilt.This weekend is going to be my last two runs for probably a couple of months. I’m planning some still and process upgrades/improvements as part of that break, that will include purpose-built insulation sections so when I’m ready to run late January or February, I won’t have any problems. I did put my hands on some of the foam type insulation in 2″ so I’m going to add those into the rework as well. This weekend is supposed to be pretty chilly so for these last two runs it’s just gonna look like the Monday morning clothesline again. Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
I haven’t insulated mine yet but when I do I’m going to cut up a heavy duty packing blanket and make a stillin jacket for her – boiler, riser, helmet, columns with a layer of reflectix stitched between two layers of packing blanket – secure it all with leather lacing to tie her up nice and tight. Hope she’s cute with it on bundled up nice and tight!Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
-
That’s a great idea Jonny, I wanna see some pictures of her jacket! I did do a double layer Reflectix wrap for my thumper, I like the jacket idea though.Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
That’s a great idea Jonny, I wanna see some pictures of her jacket! I did do a double layer Reflectix wrap for my thumper, I like the jacket idea though.RustyThe reflectix seems like it’s pretty robust as far as melting but I feel like an inner/outer later of packing blanket will keep some direct heat off of it and might be sorta cool looking if I can stitch it all together so it’s fitted somehow Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
-
Yeah, I think it would look cool too. I’m getting a mental image of something laced up the front like a delicate lady’s jacket. Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
Yeah, I think it would look cool too. I’m getting a mental image of something laced up the front like a delicate lady’s jacket. RustyMaybe i’ll sacrifice some leather for the outside if I can find a cheap piece of leather or an oversized jacket that I can cut up a little Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
-
I’m not sure if they have Tandy Leather in your part of The Milky Way, but you can get good sized remnants fairly cheap. She probably would look pretty in a nice new leather jacket! Rusty”Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
You guys lol
-
Noobie fun man! “Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
Noobie fun man! I like the concept, disguising your pot with womans underwear, you could run in the back garden, where i live no one would bat an eyelid lol.
-
Noobie fun man! I like the concept, disguising your pot with womans underwear, you could run in the back garden, where i live no one would bat an eyelid lol.LOL, that’s awesome! “Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
-
Noobie fun man! I like the concept, disguising your pot with womans underwear, you could run in the back garden, where i live no one would bat an eyelid lol.LOL, that’s awesome! I was attempting to be subtle but you’ve apparently seen through my half hearted attempt. I’ll follow up with copper porn in a couple months Cheers,jonny————i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred————
-
Busted mate.
-
Seriously though, i gotta hold of the wool wrap from Amazon i mentioned earlier, i just used it on my column couple of days back, i did a pot spirit run and it ran very well very stable with virtually no tweeking,Its a level up from wrapping a towel round it.Down side, it sheds wool fibres all over the shop.
-
Lookin forward to the copper porn Jonny.I’m assuming this isnt from the local constabulary.Sorry i couldnt help myself.
-
Noobie fun man! I like the concept, disguising your pot with womans underwear, you could run in the back garden, where i live no one would bat an eyelid lol.Are there any properties available around you? I drink so much now,on the back of my license it’s a list of organs I need.
-
“Knowledge is a paradox; the more one understands, the more one realizes the vastness of his ignorance” – Viktor (Arcane)The Horny Goat Build Thread
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian