To insulate or not . . .

[Odyssy]

A quick question - like many others I am trying to maximise our CH efficiency, recently replaced the old boiler with an A rated condenser, system has been thoroughly cleaned and flushed and re balanced and is working well. House is 100 year old semi with suspended floors downstairs with a 3 foot space below. There are airbricks front & back. There's about 10metres of 15mm flow and return copper for the 4 downstairs rads. Floors are carpeted but there's no underfloor insulation.

The question (finally) is - Should I insulate the pipes with foam to maximise the heat getting to the rads, or leave them uninsulated to raise the temp in the crawl space?
Or, just insulate the flow pipe and leave the return, or do both and then insulate the floor . . .

Any thoughts will be appreciated . . .

TIA

 

[Diver Fred]

Or, just insulate the flow pipe and leave the return, or do both and then insulate the floor . . .

Any thoughts will be appreciated . . .

TIA

as the absolute minimum insulate just the Flow pipe. Best - insulate the whole lot!

 

[Mr Chibs]

I did foam lagging on all pipes, and rock wool insulation in all suspended ground floors.

If you can keep heat in the central heating pipes, the theory is the boiler won't have to fire-up for as long, as the returning temperature has retained more heat.