Copper water pipe to garden tap

[Kathy111]

In removing tree roots from around the copper pipe to my garden tap I damaged the silver coloured tape that's wrapped around it. Is this tape important? Should I wrap it again before I fill in the hole?

[buildersmate]

The tape is insulation of some sort - either thermal insulation to help avoiding the pipe freezing in winter, or some sort of barrier to avoid the copper being gradually corroded by aggressive nature of the soil.
Can't see any reason not to rewrap it - what's the problem with that?

[johnk]

Is it heating tape? Are there any wires connected to it. It will defineately need lagging if it's outside. If it freezes and splits you may be faced with a huge water biil if you are on a meter!!

[Kathy111]

Thanks. I would say it's probably to protect it from the soil as I live in a tropical climate so it doesn't get cold. I didn't know if copper corroded. Now I just have to figure out what kind of tape to use.