This will help if the hot water has been recently used. However, if it

hasn't been used for awhile, which frequently happens in places like an

upstairs master bath, it will hardly make any difference at all.

Try it, it works.

Fiberglass strips? They sell a foam insulation tube type of product
that comes in sizes specifically made to wrap pipe.

Thermoplastic. (Softens with heat), worse for adhesive type.

Now this is really confusing. Insulation can't preheat anything. And

what amazing amount of heat is leaking out from the incoming water?
Most water coming into homes is from underground, so it's 50 deg or so,

not hot.

Again, try it. It wouldn't be confusing if you had studied high school
physics. Metal pipe is a major heat sink,
insulating it will cause it to transfer heat away from the heat source
less efficiently, thereby saving energy. When I did it,
I could feel the heated pipe farther back behind the incoming pipe and
farther beyond the outgoing pipe.

" I also agree with collecting the start water in a bucket and using it



to flush,"


Hard to see what that accomplishes. Most places, water is cheap enough

that screwing around to save a half gallon of cold water sure ain't
worth it, cause it costs a tiny fraction of a cent.

If you lived in a drought prone area, as many do, you would not have
such a wastrel attitude
(or worse, maybe you would.) But it also helps overcome the problem of
low water flush
toilets not completing the job.
-Jitney