Insulation of the future?

[Gary]

Does anyone have experience with this product in low temperature applications?

http://www.deltacoat.com/Tempsulate.htm

[superheat]

Have you tried it Gary? How much does it cost?

I just sent an e-mail asking for a sample.

[Gary]

No.

I don't know.

Let us know how it works. Sounds too good to be true, but if it does a fraction of what it purports to, this would be wonderful stuff.

[DaBit]

I also send them a mail on how to obtain the stuff. Never had an answer.

For my purposes (overclocking), this is the stuff I have been waiting for all my life.

[superheat]

It comes in 5-gallon buckets for $150/bucket. ($30/ gallon). That covers about 225 sq. ft. at 20 mils (about 1/2 mm) thick. It is a radient barrier paint (low emmisivity) with trapped air for insulation. It is not the cheapest product on the market, but would be fast and easy to install.

"Low-E" paint from Sherwin Williams is available for about $40/gallon in one gallon buckets. It has no R-Value, but is has 8 to 10 times the coverage rate. It is just white paint with a low emmisivity pigment. I painted the underside of my roof decking with it. It dropped the temp in my attic tremendously. I can work in relative comfort in my attic and it cools off quicker at night.

I would suspect added insulation would give an additional temp drop, but probably a small one. I would say the application for this new product would be in time savings. It would take less time to paint steam lines than it would to unsulate them in a normal fashion. The radient barrier would be nice with the high steam temp.
As a paint it would be a good vapor barrier for condensation application. Might be a good thing to paint duct boots. It would help seal the leak, add a little insulation and be much better, faster and easier to apply than loose fitting duct wrap.

[Gary]

Is it just about emmisivity? What I had in mind is painting it on say a suction line for a low temp system, then slip armaflex over it.

[superheat]

Low emissivity is just part of it, but there are cheaper products with low emissivity. The low emissivity part would be lost if you put armaflex on top of it. You could paint the armaflex. This would give you the insulation of the flex and reflective barrier of the paint. I looked into "R values" a few years ago. Some of the reflective manufacturers really stretch their number, when they quote "effective R values" for their products. I assume the run very cold water through a pipe in bright sunlight, then compare to ununsulated pipe to maximize results. They might get an "effective R value" close to 30 in maximum cases, but one independant study rated polished aluminum between R2 and R4 depending on the direction of heat flow at a 20*F DT.

This product has trapped air bubbles for insulation. You can add coats as many times as you want for added insulation. It is also flexable, so it might make a good replacement for duct mastic. I assume it would be a good air barrier as well as a good vapor barrier and it would not crack over time. It would be best for low temp applications in high ambient conditions + it is easy to paint it on. As demand increases, price might drop to make it a cost effective product.

[master rinktec]

I have seen this product used in an ice rink in Fort Worth Texas. It was sprayed on the interior of the ceiling to prevent the heat from penetrating. This was an old bowling alley that was converted into a recreational skating facility, so ease of installation was key. When the product was sprayed we were installing the refrigeration equipment. Out of curiosity we had him spray some on the discharge line right after the separator. With 40 TR running through the two inch line you could not stand to keep your hand on the pipe. But I could keep my hand on the painted area all day. It was still warm but a definite difference.