Recommendation: mass loaded vinyl vs. lead for pipe noise reduction

[thorpep]

Hi, I have gotten quotes from two different pipe insulators and they each recommend a different product for reducing acoustical noise on our water pipes. One uses mass loaded vinyl an absorber and the other uses pipe coverings that include a lead and foam composite. My question is if anyone has any experience in the performance differences between the two products? Are health concerns the main reason that insulators have moved to vinyl instead of lead?

 

[btrueblood]

Why do you need to reduce noise radiating from your piping system? Why not eliminate or reduce noise from the source first?

 

[GregLocock]

OP - yes, health and safety makes getting lead onto most industrial sites difficult these days.

Pcking sound treatments is often a question of suck it and see. Roughly speaking performance will be proportional to mass per unit area, but a system that offers 100% coverage will probably be superior to one that offers 98%, and there are frequency dependent effects as well.



Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Tmoose]

What is the noise like? Where are the pipes relative to the noisy area? If the problem is vibration transmitted thru grounded pipe supports, then wrapping the pipe is not going to help much.

 

[Rob45]

The lead-plus-foam treatment may well be a decoupled barrier, which can be a great deal more effective than a simple vinyl barrier, and lead can be used in some environments that would cause degradation of vinyl, for example, when some heat is involved. Lead has a fairly low melting point, but still enormously higher than that of vinyl, and lead won't catch fire - at worst, it forms a puddle...

The "hazards" of lead are vastly over-rated; as long as you're not storing your wine or drinking water in it, nor feeding it to kids, you should be OK.

Regards,
- R

 

[Strong]

Frankly I'm surprised that anyone is offering a lead product these days. Yes, lead has many technical advantages, especially temperature rating. I was doing a steam pipe lagging project and found it almost impossible to find a sheet lead product supplier. It was a moot point, because the plant did not want lead. Be careful with the mass-loaded vinyl products, since many are not very rugged for industrial installations.

Walt