Thermal Insulation Thickness and Heat Loss — online
How much heat does that bare pipe lose, how thick should the insulation be, and does it pay back?
Yellow cells are inputs; orange cells are choices; blue cells choose the unit. Select or hover over an input to see its help in the box below the toolbar. The sheet is the same as the Excel tool (USD 39) — the Guide, method and references are in the Excel file.
What this thermal insulation thickness and heat loss calculator does
Thermal insulation for pipes, flat surfaces and vessels: bare versus insulated heat loss, surface temperature for touch protection or dew point, economic thickness and payback, with temperature-dependent conductivity.
- Pipe, flat surface or sphere. Hot or cold service, indoor still air or outdoor wind.
- Three thickness bases. Heat-loss target, surface-temperature target (touch protection or condensation) and economic thickness.
- Heat loss with changing conductivity. Radial or flat conduction with the mean-conductivity method and the outer surface coefficient solved inside the sheet.
- Materials and finishes. Generic table of seven insulation types, a user-defined curve for your supplier's data and a jacket emissivity table.
- Bare, existing and design. Surface temperature, heat loss, reduction, coefficients, yearly energy and cost side by side.
- Payback. Yearly heat and money saved, installed cost, net benefit and simple payback, with a what-if of five thicknesses.
How it was checked
122 recalculated runs against an independent Python model: all 36 selector combinations, the material and finish tables, SI, US, British and alternative units and 39 edge cases; about 9,500 values compared.
Related
- Thermal Insulation Thickness and Heat Loss Excel tool — USD 39, keep the workbook, its Guide and the report sheet.
- All online tools
Questions
Is the thermal insulation thickness and heat loss calculator free?
You can enter and check all your data free. The full results, findings and printable sheet are unlocked with a 3-run pack (USD 9), a monthly subscription to all online tools (USD 15) or a yearly one (USD 99).
Are the results the same as the Excel tool?
Yes. The online tool runs the formulas of the Thermal Insulation Thickness and Heat Loss Excel workbook and was checked cell by cell against the Excel file.