Hot water heater & oven insulation.

I had a thought. Shocking!

Anyways, the insulation wrapped around the inner shell of water heaters and oven is obviously heat resistant at the very least, could this be reused in the attic for extra insulation? (I am not talking about blankets used outside of water tanks)

I would imagine different brands use different R-?? insulation, but I figure if it already is used to insulate heat, and isn't prone to catching on fire, couldn't it be reused to insulate attic space?

Just a penny pinching thought, that I can't seem to find an answer to on the interwebs.

If anyone has any input on this, I sure would appreciate it.

I think it's standard fiberglass insulation, so I can't see any reason not to use it. Good idea!

Edit: Just thought of a possible issue with ovens. If the insulation has even a little bit of grease on it. rodents would be after it.

Yeah I had figured if the insulation was wet or appeared to be wet at some time then I wouldn't use it in my house.

It should be okay to use but it's questionable as to how effective it would be.

The standard for attic insulation thickness here in the Northeast is a minimum of 12". Heating in the winter is a big deal for us. That's a major cost.

I use a combination of styrofoam and fiberglass that gives us a total thickness of over 24". I think the R value is something crazy like r-80 ? It works though. It really slows the transfer of heat from inside the house to the outdoors.

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It might be different depending on where you are in Texas. Air conditioning in the summer is your biggest cost. The surface of your roof gets over 140 degrees in the summer. What you're trying to do is block the heat from the outside from getting inside.

That's a different strategy. Insulation will help some, but what what you really want to do is vent the hell out of your roof and attic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scrappah

It might be different depending on where you are in Texas. Air conditioning in the summer is your biggest cost. The surface of your roof gets over 140 degrees in the summer. What you're trying to do is block the heat from the outside from getting inside.

That's a different strategy. Insulation will help some, but what what you really want to do is vent the hell out of your roof and attic.

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I'm south of Houston. Thanks for the input, I really hadn't thought about it in that way. But you're right, most of the year it's air condition. My house was built about 70 years ago and our attic is maybe 24" high from ceiling to roof.

The 2 weeks of winter are okay, we have a gas heater.

I have used some recycled insulation in my house roof. Because what I find is smaller stuff I use it to fill spaces and odd corners.
All of it get covered with another two layers of insulation anyway.
But, if its discoloured, been wet, has oil or suchlike in it, don't use it. It will also have its inbuilt smells too.
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Recycled insulation is never as good as new insulation, its not consistant and never fills 100% of the space its ment to fill.
But, for filling gaps and such, its ok. Just don't use the dirty insulation.