Ductwork Insulation

tk3000

I am trying to fix and improve the insulation characteristics of the visible ductwork in my basement. Sealing joints and irregularities with ductwork sealer, and then covering such irregularities and joints with aluminum foil tape. Then insulating all the ductwork with a dual layer insulation: using a thick fiberglass ductwork insulation (that is supposed to be wrapped around the ductwork and left somewhat loose, but I can not simply wrap it around in chain since there is not enough clrearance betwenn the ductwork and ceiling) and then adding another layer which consists of reflectix as shown in the following pic:



Any insights on such approach (if it is worth doing or appropriate) would be appreciated.

tk

kenmac

remove the pipe , insulate re install pipe

beenthere

That is the easier way.

Sometimes you can't insulate teh joint as well as you would like. But its a small enough area, that you won't notice any effect from it.



Insulating the duct is a 2 way street. It does prevent the duct from losing heat to the basement. it also can cause your floors to be cooler since the basement will be cooler. So slippers may need to be worn more often.

It also keeps the basement from feeling as damp in the summer though.

tk3000

Thanks for the insights. Unfortunately I can not remove the ductwork (it would entail lots of work considering the logistic of its postition, etc), but there is not much ductwork to worry about so it should not take too much time.


I live in a condo unit so I share the walls (concrecte block and bricks) and it also happen to very close to nature and the trees/florest, so pests can be a problem (but I haven't had any since I started to close and seal all possible avenues of entrance that I could find). Such avenues of entrance were mainly spots where pipes (sewers lines, natural gas, water) and the ductwork meet the walls, in such places I used insulating foam, mortite, and steel wool (coarse 3) in order to insulate and also bock the entrance of pests and bugs, and no pest made its way into the basement so far. Since I have aluminum windows in other parts of the unit and no real windows in the basement, the basment is now the warmed part of the home (and it is not due to air leaking off the ductwork).