Circulation pump insulation

[Guest Alphonsox]

I have a Grundfos UPS2 circulation pump sat atop my 90Ltr buffer tank. It seems that I am loosing a fair amount of heat during the day due to this pump not being insulated. This is leading to my plant room over heating and there being no hot water left should an evening boost be required.

 

What is the best way to insulate the pump without overheating the critical internal gubins ?

[ProDave]

Move the pump so it is much further from the tank, so when it has cooled down and lost that bit of heat, it won't lose any more.

[Guest Alphonsox]

57 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Move the pump so it is much further from the tank, so when it has cooled down and lost that bit of heat, it won't lose any more.

 

With hindsight that is exactly what I should have done, however moving it now would involve a good deal of complexity. I'm hoping there's a simpler solution.

[dpmiller]

add an NRV to kill any convective flow?

[Nickfromwales]

You can only insulate the body and not the head or you’ll damage the pump. 

Is this issue only for when the pump is off? 

Try one of these and see if that helps?

[newhome]

As a follow up question for this should all 'hot' pipework that is exposed be insulated? Most of the pipework out of my TS is wrapped in Armaflex thanks to the dynamic duo who came up to fix it but there are still some pipes or parts of pipes that are roasting hot. Not sure if I should be wrapping these in the stuff too? They are the more awkward shaped, smaller bits so it would be doable albeit a bit of a faff. And presumably the naked TS is ok too and doesn't need any sort of jacket / insulation? 

 

[PeterW]

The naked TS actually has a jacket on it already - the tank is inside the outer shell that will be insulated. 

 

All the pipework should be insulated - probably put that down to them not being fully “focused” after a night on the Belhaven .....

[newhome]

I think the night in question was McEwans - the Belhaven was long gone by then . 

 

I'll take a photo of the 'bits' that are roasting hot and see what you think. 

[newhome]

Here are the bits! All of the exposed pipe work off the blending valves plus the weird round bit with the arrow pointing at it. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alexphd1]

That would be a bugger of a job with normal pipe insulation but you could try pipe insulation tape. It's only 3mm thick but would be better than nothing.

 

Here's a link but shop about.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Armaflex-Pipe-Insulation-Tape-50mm/dp/B0069R66BA

Edited November 20, 2018 by Alexphd1

[PeterW]

The thing with the pipe poking out is the old quench coil - not a lot you can do with that. 

[newhome]

On 20/11/2018 at 20:45, newhome said:

 

 

 

 

@PeterW I've added insulation to those bare pipes now but what is that black sticky tape you have used to hold it together elsewhere? I've tried something that I had here but I don't think it likes the high temperatures and just unsticks itself. I am going to buy some of the tape that @Alexphd1 suggests too to cover up the bits that are too small to use the normal insulation on.