Patent Application
20130269274
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for insulating piping. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and system for effectively insulating piping located in an exterior wall construction in a manner that protects the piping from freezing.
In the construction of residential and commercial structures a variety of piping systems are installed to allow delivery of water to various plumbing fixtures such as sinks and toilets. Further, hydronic piping is installed to circulate a fluid medium, which is some cases is simply water, to effect heat transfer in order to heat the space. Often, due to the design of the space or the location of the various fixtures and heating elements, such piping must be located adjacent or within the cavity of the exterior walls of the structure. The difficulty created in these instances is that during the winter the temperature outside the wall construction and often within the wall cavity itself fall below 32° F., the freezing point of the water contained within these piping systems. When examined closely, the heat profile of a typical wall construction can be seen to have temperatures approaching the interior ambient temperature at the inner surface of the drywall within the wall bay and temperatures approaching exterior cold temperatures at the inner surface of the exterior sheathing within the same wall bay. Turning to
Since it is well recognized that the space in the wall cavity of an exterior wall can often reach freezing temperatures, the International Plumbing Code and most state plumbing codes provide a basic requirement that domestic water pipes installed in outside walls shall be protected from freezing either by heat, insulation or both. One issue with such code provisions, however, is that fact that the code does not provide any specific direction as to how such protection against freezing should be provided. Further, while these code provisions apply to domestic water supplies, the difficulty arises in that the parallel code relating to heating systems has not provided any requirements regarding the protection of hydronic piping from freezing. This situation is further aggravated because the lack of direction a code level has translated directly into a lack of industry support for the installation of insulation on hydronic piping in exterior walls. As a result, there have been a large number of pipe failures directly tied to the freezing of the piping installed in exterior walls, wherein the pipe failure has caused extensive building damage.
Turning to
There are a number of different pipe insulation products that are currently available on the market today. Such insulation is generally configured as a pipe wrap in the form of jacketed fiberglass or a rubber material. These materials are installed fully around the exterior surface of the pipe thereby insulating the pipe. The problem that most people do not appreciated about the prior art insulation is that they are designed to prevent heat loss from the interior of the pipe to the exterior of the pipe. In other words they are intended to maintain the interior temperature of the fluid within the pipe. These insulation materials are not designed to address piping installed in locations prone to freezing.
There is therefore a need for a method and system for insulating piping that is specifically configured and designed for applications in exterior walls where the pipes are prone to freezing. There is a further need for a method and system of insulating piping in an exterior wall that reliably insures that the piping is protected from freezing by insuring that the piping is maintained as near to the ambient temperature of the interior of the structure as possible.
In this regard, the present invention provides a method and system for insulating piping installed in an exterior wall. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and system for effectively insulating piping located in an exterior wall construction in a manner that protects the piping from freezing. The system of the present invention provides for an insulation block that is dimensioned particularly for installation into a building wall cavity. The insulation block has an interior side and an exterior side and a slot formed therein for receiving a pipe to be insulated. More particularly, the thickness of the insulation block is configured to match the dimensions of standard framing members wherein the slot for receiving the piping insures that the piping is positioned immediately adjacent the back surface of the interior sheathing material. In this manner, the insulation system of the present invention protects the piping in two ways. First, the insulation block reliably provides a thickness of insulation material behind the piping such that the insulation material is positioned between the piping and the exterior wall surface. Second, the insulation maintains the piping in contact with the rear surface of the interior wall sheathing to facilitate heat transfer from the interior of the building and into the piping.
In other embodiments of the present invention, the insulation block may include adhesive on a rear surface thereof such that the insulation block can be adhered to the interior surface of the exterior wall sheathing when installed. In another embodiment, the front surface of the insulation block and interior surface of the slot may include a metallic tape or other heat transfer medium to increase the overall heat transfer from the interior sheathing to the piping received within the slot. Finally, the slot may be configured to extend nearly entirely around the piping received therein leaving only a small exposed region of the piping to be in contact with the rear surface of the interior sheathing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for insulating piping that is specifically configured and designed for applications in exterior walls where the pipes are prone to freezing. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system of insulating piping in an exterior wall that reliably insures that the piping is protected from freezing by insuring that the piping is maintained as near to the ambient temperature of the interior of the structure as possible. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system for insulating piping that reliably positions a thickness of insulation material behind the piping such that the insulation material is positioned between the piping and the exterior wall surface while also maintaining the piping in contact with the rear surface of the interior wall sheathing to facilitate heat transfer from the interior of the building and into the piping.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the invention.
In the drawings which illustrate the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the present invention:
a is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of
Now referring to the drawings, method and system for insulating piping installed in an exterior wall is generally shown and illustrated. As was stated above, the present invention generally provides an improved method and system for effectively insulating piping located in an exterior wall construction in a manner that protects the piping from freezing.
Turning to
The width or diameter of the cavity 34 is preferably the same size as that of the piping 38 to be received therein while the slot 36 is preferably narrower in width than the width/diameter of the cavity 34. This allows the piping 38 to be wrapped nearly fully by the insulation block 20 while leaving a space for the piping 38 to contact the rear surface of the interior sheathing.
It should be appreciated by one skilled in the art that while the insulation block 20 of the present invention is shown to be rectangular, such a profile was chosen for expediency and efficient use of material and extrusion equipment, any other profile shape may also be used and still fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Similarly, as will be descried below, the cavity 34 extends nearly entirely around the outer surface of the pipe 38 received therein leaving only a small exposed region of the piping 38 to be in contact with the rear surface of the interior sheathing. However, the cavity 34 may be formed to be square or U-shaped and still fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Turning now to
As can be appreciated, the operative principal of the present invention is to facilitate heat transfer from the interior of the building and into the piping 38 to prevent freezing thereof. To enhance the overall ability of the insulation system to transfer heat into the piping 38 contained within the cavity 34, the insulation block 20 may also include a continuous thermally conductive layer 46 that covers the interior surface of the cavity 34, the slot 36 and at least a portion of the front surface 26 of the insulation block 20 proximate the slot 36. Similarly, the thermally conductive layer 46 may extend fully over the front surface 26 of the insulation block 20, although preferably, the thermally conductive surface 46 will end approximately ½ inch from the edge of the front face 26 of the insulation block 20 to prevent cold from being conducted into the pipe 38 at the edge of the contact surface. Preferably, the thermally conductive layer 46 is a metallic layer such as a metallic tape. It is still more preferable that the thermally conductive layer 46 includes an adhesive layer thereon. By providing an adhesive layer on the thermally conductive layer 46, the present invention insures a firm contact between the outer surface of the pipe 38 and the thermally conductive layer 46 in order to increase the heat transfer flow into the pipe 38. In this manner, the present invention employs a directional insulation technique wherein heat is selectively projected or converged into a desired area while heat loss is effectively prevented. In this manner the focused heat improves both the heat transfer efficiency (in hydronic piping) and to make use of heated sources such as an interior wall adjacent a heated space to protect a pipe from freezing in a susceptible area. As a result, the directional insulation concept makes maximum use of the buildings interior heat by diverting this heat source into the piping allowing the piping to be heated without the use of an external (i.e. electrical resistance heating) heat source.
In addition to providing adhesive on the thermally conductive layer 46, it can be appreciated that the insulation block 20 may include adhesive on a rear surface 28 thereof such that the insulation block 20 can be adhered to the interior surface of the exterior wall sheathing 42 when the insulation block 20 is installed. Similarly, the front surface 26 may include an adhesive layer that adheres to the rear surface of the interior wall sheathing 44 as it is installed.
While the previous figures show a single cavity 34 and slot 36 formed in the insulation block 20, it can be seen in
The construction of the insulation block 20 in the preferred embodiment consists of an extruded square block of Polystyrene with an R-value of between 5 and 6.5 per inch with outside dimensions that are slightly wider than the wall construction into which the insulation block 20 will be installed although any type of material known in the art would be equally applicable and fall within the scope of the present invention. In this manner, the width of the block 20 will be on the order of 1/16th to ⅛th of an inch larger than the width of the framing member used in constructing the wall cavity 40, allowing the insulation block 20 to be compressed as the interior sheathing 44 is installed thereby maintaining the piping in firm contact with the rear surface of the interior sheathing 44. In this manner the insulation block 20 is in compression between the interior sheathing 44 and the exterior sheathing 42 and is adhered thereto by the layers of adhesive to improve the installation process, increase the conductive heat transfer and eliminate the possibility of cold air infiltration reaching the piping. Should the insulation block 20 need to installed into a wall cavity 40 where the piping 38 is already installed and unmovable, the block 20 may be formed in two pieces as required to facilitate installation. For example, the block 20 may be formed as a front and back half wherein the front piece is installed around the piping 38 and the back half is then slid in behind. The compression of the block 20 within the wall cavity 40 negates any possibility of insulation inconsistency.
As stated above, the insulation block 20 has a width that is slightly greater than the width of the framing members 48 into which it is installed. In 2×4 construction for example where the framing members 48 are 3½″ wide, the insulation block 20 will have a width that is on the order of about 3 9/16″ to about 3⅝″. Similarly, in 2×6, where the framing members 48 are 5½″ the insulation block 20 will have a width that is on the order of about 5 9/16″ to about 5⅝″. In this manner, the thickness of the insulation block 20 is configured to match the dimensions of standard framing members 48 wherein the slot 36 for receiving the piping 38 insures that the piping 38 is positioned immediately adjacent the back surface of the interior sheathing 44 material. As a result, the insulation system of the present invention protects the piping 38 in two ways. First, the insulation block 20 reliably provides a thickness of insulation material behind the piping 38 such that the insulation material is positioned between the piping and the exterior wall surface. Second, the insulation maintains the piping 38 in contact with the rear surface of the interior wall sheathing 44 to facilitate heat transfer from the interior of the building and into the piping 38.
As stated above, the rear surface 28 of the insulation block 20 includes a tape covered adhesive surface allowing the block 20 to be stuck to the inner surface of the wall's outer sheathing 42 allowing stabilization and securing of the insulation block 20 during the construction phase of the building. As can be further seen in
To facilitate installation of the insulation blocks of the present invention, a template tool may be provided in order to locate the proper location in the wall for the drilling of penetration holes and the installation of the piping. In this manner, a template showing the location of the hole to be drilled in the sill (2×4 or 2×6) members of the wall will facilitate correct installation of the piping to allow later installation of the insulation block.
Turning now to
The insulation layer 140 is calculated as follows to be minimally 0.25″, which is enough to prevent the formation of condensation on the pipe 138 yet still allow the necessary heat transfer to prevent the pipe 138 from freezing. The minimum thickness is calculated as follows:
=KR(Tdp−Top)/(Tadb−Tdp)
Where K is the thermal conductivity of the material, R is the insulative value of the insulation material, Tdp is the dew point temperature, Top is the operating temperature of the piping, and Tadb is the ambient dry bulb temperature. For normal operating conditions where condensation is likely to occur, we can assume a K of 0.29, an R of 5 per inch, Tdp=60° F. (dew point of 60), Top=55° F. (55° water in the pipe) and a Tadb=90° F. (90° ambient temperature). Accordingly the calculated minimum thickness is:
0.207 inches=(0.29*5)*((60−55)/(95−60))
Adding a factor of safety, for the purpose of the present invention in preventing condensation on a cold water pipe, the minimum thickness is calculated at 0.25″.
Similarly at
Turning now to
In operation, the insulation block 300 of the present invention is installed around the pipe 102 and into the wall cavity as was disclosed above. It can also be seen that the pipe 102 is received within the insulation block 300 and is necessarily positioned adjacent the warm side of the cavity. The block includes an opening 308 that extends up to and adjacent the rear surface of the wall sheathing such that the opening 308 facilitates heat transfer through the sheathing and into the opening 308 to prevent freezing of the piping 102 contained therein. More preferably the opening 308 is wider where it is adjacent the sheathing. Still more preferably the opening is wedge shaped so as to focus any heat captured as it passes through the sheathing onto the pipe contained therein. It is also preferable that the slot 308 be configured at a depth to allow the piping to be positioned a minimum of ⅝″ from the sheathing such that such a system can be employed in a structural wall wherein codes prohibit holes in structural elements less than ⅝″ from the edge thereof.
As shown at
Further, at
It can therefore be seen that the present invention provides a method and system for effectively insulating piping located in an exterior wall construction in a manner that protects the piping from freezing. The insulation block reliably provides a thickness of insulation material behind the piping such that the insulation material is positioned between the piping and the exterior wall surface and the insulation maintains the piping in contact with the rear surface of the interior wall sheathing to facilitate heat transfer from the interior of the building and into the piping. For these reasons, the instant invention is believed to represent a significant advancement in the art, which has substantial commercial merit.
While there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation-in-part and claims priority from earlier filed U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/246,588, filed Oct. 7, 2008 and U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 13/332,884, Filed Dec. 21, 2011.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12246588 | Oct 2008 | US |
| Child | 13905509 | US | |
| Parent | 13332884 | Dec 2011 | US |
| Child | 12246588 | US |
