Insulating the hot water pipes

Pipework in a lot of Cyprus properties runs bare — through roof voids, down external walls, along the underside of slabs. The cylinder is on the roof and the tap is two floors down, so there is a long run of pipe that cools between uses. Every time you open the tap you push that cooled water out before the hot arrives.

Lagging the accessible parts of that run does not speed up the first draw of the morning by much. What it changes is the second. Bare copper loses usable heat within a few hours; insulated pipe holds it far longer, so if someone showers after you the water is there almost immediately.

It is straightforward wherever the pipe is reachable — roof space, plant cupboard, along a wall. Where the run is buried in a slab there is nothing to insulate, and we will tell you that rather than charge you to look.

Typical visit: 1–2 hours