I recently replaced some rotted insulation on the coolant pipe that runs out of my AC unit and into the evaporator in my house. When cleaning inside the actual AC unit itself I noticed that the coolant pipe running out of what I believe is the condenser (has a insulation blanket over it) is not insulated. Is there any reason not to insulate this coolant pipe? I traced the line and made sure that it is the same pipe that is insulated once it gets outside the AC unit.
Should I insulate air conditioner coolant pipes
air-conditioningcentral-airhvacinsulation
Related Topic
- Air Conditioner woes: water pooling in basement, condensation on ducts, frost on outdoor copper pipe
- A/C unit cycles on and off during cooling phase
- High Power Bills Related to Air Conditioner
- Pipe Insulation Slit Orientation
- Fill leakage gaps/holes in AC condenser cabinet
- Residential Air Conditioner Compressor Won’t Start
Best Answer
This is the answer to your actual question:
As you correctly observed, if the outside pipe "should" be insulated (it should), then the inside pipe "should" also be insulated for all the same reasons everyone pointed out. However, the key is "should" vs "must." For argument's sake, say the outside pipe is 99 ft long and the inside pipe is 1 ft. Then the 99 ft pipe will absorb 99 times more heat from the outside air. So it's very important to insulate the outside pipe because it will absorb a lot of heat. It's not so important to insulate the inside pipe because it's so short it doesn't absorb much heat. Your AC would be slightly more efficient if you insulated the inside pipe -- but you get 99% of the benefit from insulating the outside, and only 1% of the benefit from insulating the inside pipe. Practically speaking, it's not enough benefit to make a difference.