Mains water pipes dripping cold water

[puntloos]

Our mains water is carried into the house by a sizeable metal pipe that comes out under our utility sink in garage, and then goes into the rest of the house (a lot of plumbing, eg softener, pressure, DHW is understair in the adjacent hallway)

Previously, the plumbers left the metal pipes uninsulated and they dripped quite a bit of condensate into the utility sink cabinet. 

 

Today, they 'fixed it' by wrapping the big pipe in some insulation. Admittedly the dripping seems less, but I'm not quite sure if this is reasonable? Not a plumber if that wasn't clear, but I would've expected maybe a dedicated condensate drain approach. That said, I guess it might be hard to wrap the entire pipe run (until where? the pressure cyl?) in such a condensate drain system?

 

How is this normally handled? Or is just insulating these pipes sufficient?

[Russell griffiths]

It’s normally handled by removing the metal pipe and replacing it in plastic. 😂

[puntloos]

5 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

It’s normally handled by removing the metal pipe and replacing it in plastic. 😂

Are you serious?🤨 - I could imagine this is actually true but I'm wondering if that really is the only solution? Plus, surely a plastic pipe works better because it doesn't carry the cold of the water as easily as the metal, but metal wrapped in insulation would then also work?

[markocosic]

Insulating the pipe AND keeping the air out prevents moisture from the air getting to the cold pipe and turning to liquid water.

 

We have insulation on the PLASTIC pipes and the composite water filters to avoid condensation in summer. 5 degC borehole water and sticky 30 degC summer air makes for rain otherwise!