Is it bad to heatwrap IC pipes?

[Hiitman]

I bought a bunch of dei heat wrap for really no apparent reason. So I decided to heatwrap all my ic pipes and intake. A friend of mine made a good point that this could actually prevent heat from dissipating. What do you guys think?

 

[eboy0]

I'd only wrap the one near a heat source; manfiold, downpipe, ect... otherwise i'd leave the other ones unwrapped.

 

[spoonman]

If it enter the engine bay wrap it, this will actually help to keep temps down a little, especially on a car doing hot laps or lots of constant driving.

 

[crimsondragon]

The only way your tubes will dissipate heat is if the air in the IC tubes are actually HOTTER than the inside of the engine bay. Which is like never. Pressure and energy flows in a way of high to low, never low to high. Objects want to be the same temperature. So if the air in the IC is cold, heat will try to transfer to the IC pipes, not the other way around. You want to heat wrap it to keep it insulated but it's usually better to heatwrap heat sources such as the exhaust manifold. It'll keep the engine bay overall cooler. It's all basic physics. Also, another reason to wrap the exhaust, is to keep the heat in. The more heat there is, the more energy you're getting for the turbo to spool.

 

[RipperXX]

I have said this over and over, it depends on how large your turbo is IMO. If you have a large efficient turbo thats not going to be blowing a lot of hot air POST IC then I say wrap it.

Why? Because if the engine bay temps are 120*F for instance and your intake air charge is say 105, do you honestly think the pipes are dissipate heat? I would think they would be getting warmer from the engine bay heat and absorbing it. And releasing it to the intake charge. Now PRE IC I would leave unwrapped since the charge has not been cooled by the IC yet.

This is just my speculation, some air temp sensors could tell you if I was right or wrong. Now with a small turbo running lots of boost this may not be true.




Also it may depend on the routing of your pipes, if they come near the exhaust then yes you more than likely want to wrap them in that area.

 

[DirtyBirdRacing]

The only way your tubes will dissipate heat is if the air in the IC tubes are actually HOTTER than the inside of the engine bay. Which is like never. Pressure and energy flows in a way of high to low, never low to high. Objects want to be the same temperature. So if the air in the IC is cold, heat will try to transfer to the IC pipes, not the other way around. You want to heat wrap it to keep it insulated but it's usually better to heatwrap heat sources such as the exhaust manifold. It'll keep the engine bay overall cooler. It's all basic physics. Also, another reason to wrap the exhaust, is to keep the heat in. The more heat there is, the more energy you're getting for the turbo to spool.

Along the same lines of this, you could do a little math to see how hot the air is coming out of your turbo/intercooler. I would definetly wrap your exhaust mainfold at least, this will help to keep under the hood temps down and exhuast pre turbo temps up.

Bill

 

[ApexVIII]

you know there is reflective heat wrap... if you are going to wrap anything on the IC pipes use that instead

Reflective heat shield tape