How Can I Stop My Pipes From Sweating?

Have you ever seen a pipe in your home with so much water dripping from it that you were sure the pipe had a leak? Yet when you examined the pipe closely you saw that the pipe had no leak at all? This is caused by condensation, which is often referred to as sweating. Heaney Plumbing & Heating has seen this problem hundreds of times in our clients homes. Clients often ask us how they can stop their pipes from sweating.

To prevent it from happening you must first understand what sweating pipes are, and what causes this condition. Your pipes do not actually sweat, rather your pipes collect moisture when the warm moist air surrounding your cold water pipes interact with one another. When this happens condensation will result. On hot humid summer days for example, the cold water in your pipes will cool the air surrounding your pipes and condensation will form on the outside of your pipes. Moist air is water vapor that basically desires to become water once again, so the cool surfaces of your pipes offers this water vapor the opportunity to become water once more.

Some customers ask us if condensation on pipes is safe. Sadly this sweating can result in property damage over time. It can damage your ceilings, walls, floors and even your furniture. The water that drips from these pipes could very well pool up and cause building rot and even lead to insect attack to the wood and building materials of your home. This excess water in your home could even lead to costly mold damage, so you should make steps to prevent this water from forming.

The cure for sweating pipes is simply insulating them. You do not want to use fiberglass insulation however as this makes a poor choice for insulating pipes. All cold water pipes in your home should be insulated, especially those in the ceiling above any finished basement. As the best plumber in Detroit we use Foam insulating tubes which wrap around your plumbing. It is not just pipes that can use insulation, your hot water tank may need insulation as well, especially if your hot water tank is located in the basement or enclosed in a closet since pools of water forming on the floor would be undesirable in these areas of the home. In cases where a water tank needs to insulated, we recommend installing a insulation blanket.

Whatever your plumbing problem is, Heaney Plumbing & Heating can help. Call us today!