The main water line coming into your mobile home is the lifeline that feeds all of your faucets and plumbing fixtures. If this link to the water supply freezes it can burst and drive your water bill sky high, cost time and money for repairs and cleanup, and leave you and your family without water. In warmer weather or warmer locations, lack of insulation will cause your cold water to be warm until the lines are flushed of standing water. This will cause your water bill to rise as you waste many gallons of water trying to get a cold drink. Insulating this line takes only a little time, a couple of tools, and some know how.
Instructions
1. Clear the work area of any debris. Remove a couple of underpinning panels by pulling them free of the surrounding panels and the tacks at the top and bottom. Set aside the panels for replacement. Set up your work light and use your rake to remove any leaves and debris under the mobile home. Lay out your tarp where the water main line emerges from the ground.
2. Slide the foam rubber pipe insulation into the pipe. Secure the foam with your pipe tape at the beginning and end and at 8-inch intervals in between. Cut the foam at a 45 degree angle at any turns in the pipe and secure the corner pieces together with your pipe tape.
3. Lay a strip of wall insulation along the pipe on top of the pipe insulation. Pull the sides of the wall insulation around the pipe so that the sides of the insulation overlap slightly. Secure the wall insulation to the pipe with duct tape. This gives an added layer of insulation to compensate for the open air atmosphere under your mobile home.
Tips Warnings
Shears and scissors pose cut and puncture hazards. Use caution and common sense when using these tools.
Wall insulation poses inhalation and skin irritation hazards. Wear appropriate clothing and safety equipment, such as leather work gloves, safety glasses, and a dust mask, when installing insulation.
Wall insulation poses hazards to people, pets and the environment. Dispose of any scraps in a legal and environmentally friendly manner.
