{"id":154,"date":"2016-09-20T10:31:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T10:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/?page_id=154"},"modified":"2023-06-01T16:37:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T16:37:49","slug":"benefits-of-insulation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/about-insulation\/benefits-of-insulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of Insulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
A properly designed and installed insulation system offers immediate and long-term benefits. Insulation protects your personnel, your equipment, your system, and your budget. Click here to learn more about the Power of Insulation.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A properly designed and installed insulation system immediately reduces the need for energy and results in significant savings. Energy Savings Appraisal<\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A properly designed and installed insulation system provides an excellent return on investment and quick payback through cost savings. Insulation is a low-risk investment because the savings and the payback can be forecasted with a high degree of accuracy. To calculate your specific payback, download a free computer program (called 3E Plus\u00ae) at www.pipeinsulation.org<\/a> or use the fast, simple insulation calculators created by NIA<\/a> and available at www.insulation.org\/training-tools\/designguide\/simple-calculators<\/a>.<\/p>\n Insulation is one of the few technologies where the payback for the investment is considered more than acceptable when compared to many other equipment or maintenance purchases. If the insulated system is maintained, the savings from the investment continue for the life of the facility. In fact, it costs more to not insulate properly. Often insulation is paid for by the maintenance budget and then it reduces the operations budget for the life of the system.<\/p>\n The return on investment or payback for an investment in insulation is quick, often from 6 months to 2 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Insulation with a good vapor retarder controls condensation and limits corrosion on cold piping, ducts, chillers, and roof drains. Sufficient thickness is needed to keep the surface temperature above the dew point temperature of the ambient air.<\/p>\n FAQ: How Does Insulation Help Control Condensation? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A properly specified and installed insulation system on bare process lines and equipment can increase the efficiency of a process system by as much as 95% or more.<\/p>\n Use insulation to:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Use a well-designed and insulated system for greenhouse gas reduction.<\/p>\n Insulation reduces energy consumption, which means that less fossil fuel is burned to produce that energy. This, in turn, decreases the amount of polluting gases such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Because carbon dioxide is one of the principal greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, and sulfur dioxide is the major component of acid rain, insulation plays a significant role in protecting the environment.<\/p>\n Insulation is not generally associated with pollution control. If energy is saved, then all of the pollution associated with the generation of that energy is also saved. And, given the amount of energy reduced by the use of insulation\u2014and the fact that we now have tools to calculate the emission reduction numbers with the use of insulation\u2014emission reduction is a significant benefit of insulating in today's green environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A well-designed and insulated system will protect personnel by:<\/p>\n Thermal insulation is one of the most effective means of protecting workers from burns resulting from contact with hot or extremely cold piping and equipment. For hot surfaces especially, insulation reduces the surface temperature of piping or equipment to a safer level, resulting in increased worker safety and the avoidance of worker downtime due to injury. With today's specification tools, it's very easy to calculate the insulation thickness needed to bring the surface temperature of your piping and equipment to safe levels.<\/p>\n In addition to the safety benefits of insulation, NIA member companies take job site safety very seriously and strive to meet the highest standards to protect their own personnel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Used in combination with other materials, insulation helps provide fire protection in firestop systems, grease and air ducts, and in electrical and communications conduits and cables.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Insulation covering exposed air conditioning and plumbing lines gives a finished appearance to a building. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A well-insulated system helps reduce noise levels by:<\/p>\n This is one benefit that's tough to put a price on, but we all know it happens. Noise can seriously impact a worker's health and productivity\u2014so much so that OSHA does in fact have noise standards in place. Manufacturing environments can be extremely noisy and cause major health problems if noise abatement and protection are not dealt with. In addition, noise produced by appliances, piping, heating and air conditioning systems, phones, radios, and even by talking are major reasons people are dissatisfied with their work place.<\/p>\n Insulation materials are used to encase or enclose noise generating sources and reduce noise to acceptable levels so that stress, lost time, and dissatisfaction do not impact the employee and\/or the product you are trying to get out the door.<\/p>\n Insulation reduces the level of both exterior and interior noise by preventing transmission of exterior sounds to the interior of the building, and absorbing reverberating sounds within the building.<\/p>\n FAQ: How and Why Is Insulation Used to Control Sound?<\/p>\n Sound attenuation, or the limiting of sound propagation from one area to another, requires the application of special and standard insulation materials to encase or enclose the noise-generating source, forming a sound barrier between the source and the surrounding area.<\/p>\n The purposes of applying sound-attenuation materials are to:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> A well-insulated system will:<\/p>\n Do you know all of insulation\u2019s benefits? A properly designed and installed insulation system offers immediate and long-term benefits. Insulation protects your personnel, your equipment, your system, and your budget. Click here to learn more about the Power of Insulation. \u00a0Reduces energy costs \u00a0Prevents moisture condensation \u00a0Reduces capacity and size of new mechanical equipment \u00a0Enhances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-154","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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Energy Savings: Insulation Reduces Energy Costs<\/h2>\n
\nOn hot pipes and surfaces, heat loss can be reduced by about 20 times. With delivered natural gas and fuel oil costs at $7 to $10 per million Btus, that adds up!<\/strong>
\nA properly designed, insulated, and maintained system significantly reduces energy costs, which saves money and protects the environment. An unbelievable amount of energy is lost through uninsulated valves, bare pipes, or defective insulation. It seems to be one of those maintenance things that never gets done\u2014until somebody can demonstrate what it's costing to ignore the uninsulated system.<\/p>\n
\nA properly designed and installed insulation system immediately reduces the need for energy and results in significant savings. A Certified Insulation Energy Appraiser<\/a> can document the actual Btu\/dollars savings and calculate potential savings with an insulation upgrade. Click here for more information about becoming a Certified Insulation Energy Appraiser.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Impressive Return on Investment: Insulation Is a Quick Payback<\/h2>\n
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Control Condensation with Insulation<\/h2>\n
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\nWhen piping and equipment operate at temperatures lower than the ambient air, moisture in the air will condense, or freeze, on or within the insulation surface, or on the cold pipe surface. Unless the system is protected by sufficient thickness and by adequate vapor retarders, the insulation can become wet, causing corrosion, and causing the insulation to become ineffective. Specifying sufficient insulation thickness with an effective vapor retarder system is the most effective means of providing a system for controlling condensation on the membrane surface and within the insulation system on cold piping, ducts, chillers, and roof drains. Sufficient insulation thickness is needed to keep the surface temperature of the membrane above the highest possible design dew point temperature of the ambient air so condensation does not form on the surface. The effective vapor retarder system is needed to restrict moisture migration into the system through the facing, joints, seams, penetrations, hangers, and supports. By controlling condensation, the system designer may control the potential for:<\/p>\n\n
Process Control with Insulation<\/h2>\n
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Protect the Environment by Reducing Pollutant Emissions with Insulation<\/h2>\n
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Personnel Protection<\/h2>\n
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Fire Protection<\/h2>\n
Improved Appearance<\/h2>\n
Noise Control with Insulation<\/h2>\n
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Increase Space Efficiency with Insulation<\/h2>\n
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