Rebuild My EFM 520

Rob R. wrote:Dave, hopefully you are warm this morning...and you can have heat in the house without heating the garage floor unnecessarily.

Rob,

We do have heat this morning and it feels great. I also noticed I have no ghosting at the floor heat. The next thing I want to do is insulate the boiler with some type of foil faced insulation. Any advice on doing that and what is best to use?

Depends on whether or not you are planning on pretty,or installing covers over or doing as I did with mine,2" foil board,2 sided foil,all joints tightly taped with foil tape. The result is amazing but not pretty by most folks standards.

My 520 is in a shed so I'm not looking for pretty just want it more efficient. It's not like anybody will be looking at it. lol Is the stuff you you're using available at the local building stores?

It should be available at any building supply place & probably most box stores like Lowes.You will want to get the real good foil tape so it will stand the heat & tape all joints/cracks so that you don't end up with a chimney effect behind the foil board scrubbing heat off & venting it out the crack on top.

I always try to put the advertizing on the inside. It's all silver that way. If you can get it, the fiberglass duct board works much better. It is more expensive.

Thanks for the information. I'm going to take a ride to Lowes and HD and see what they have available. I'm sure getting the boiler covered will help a lot in retaining heat.

I found two items and the box stores. At Homedepot I found Dow Super Tuff-R. It had aluminum skin on one side and some type of blue skin on the other. I'm wondering if this side would melt if place on the boiler. I can't seem to find out what the coating is on this item. The R-value on this is R6.5. http://www.homedepot.com/p/1-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-R-6-5-Foam-Insulation-268417/100576728

At Lowes I found Poly Shield qith Aluminum on one side but didn't appear to have anything on the back side. The R- value on this is R4.35 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Expanded-Polystyrene-Foam-Board-Ins ... ft/3365576

I looked around for duct board but it appears my local stores do not stock any duct board.

The 2" I used had foil on both sides, rated at R12,the name Celotex comes to mind,also Thermax,off the top of my head I can't say if those are 2 different companies or not.

Celotex is what I have in my shop. Foil faced on both sides. I am surprised they didn't have it at Lowes?

I was unable to find Celotex locally but it is available for order online for around $35.00 for a 1" x 4' x 8' and shipping would be $60.00.

I did do some research on Turr-R sold at HD and found the following information:
"On TUFF-R™ insulation, one facer is a continuous sheet of aluminum foil; the other is a Tri-Plex facer consisting of a three-ply laminate of durable kraft with aluminum foil on both sides. Where additional durability is required, Super TUFF-R™ insulation is a product of choice. The Super Tri-Plex facers are three-ply laminates of durable polyester, kraft and reinforced aluminum foil. One side is blue; the other side is reflective foil." R-value for a 1" sheet is 6.5. Operation Temperature Range, -50°F to +190°F

A Lowes about 25 miles from me has RMAX Thermosheath-3. Here is their information:
Rmax Thermasheath-3 is an energy-efficient thermal insulation board composed of a closed-cell polyisocyanurate (polyiso) foam core bonded to reinforced aluminum foil facers on each side. Thermasheath-3 utilizes a CFC-, HCFC- and HFC-free blowing agent that has zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and negligible Global Warming Potential (GWP). This insulation is suitable for use in walls, ceilings and some limited roofing applications in new construction for commercial, residential, agricultural and industrial buildings and in thermal retrofit construction within
existing buildings." R-value is 6.0. Service Temperatures -40°F to +250°F

I'm thinking the RMAX Thermosheath-3 is the way to go. Any opinions?

Happy Thanksgiving,
Dave

Dave ,

any of the Polyisocyanuate w/ foil facing will give you all the insulation you need. two 1" layers will give you better performance than one 2" layer. joints must be taped and staggered.
waldo

Most 2" has r value of 12
most 1" has r value of 6
6 x 2 = 12
I find it much easier to cut once & have the full 12 value when those pieces are fastened up,rather than cutting 2 different sizes to get staggered coverage,seems like redundant work for no gain.

Dave,
The gain results from the physical break between the two layers. Can result in a free r3 gain if you leave a 3/4" sealed air space. Same idea as thermopane windows...

waldo lemieux wrote:Dave,
The gain results from the physical break between the two layers. Can result in a free r3 gain if you leave a 3/4" sealed air space. Same idea as thermopane windows...

Resulting in a total of 2.75" ??
Sealed space ? as in totally sealed ? That would be impossible to maintain a total seal just by taping.
Or is the word seal used loosely here, as in making sure no major air can travel thru that space ?
One can truly learn new things on a daily basis .

Are there any worries about polyisocyanurate foam board insulation melting? I checked my 520 with a temperature gun and the highest reading I got was 183°. From reading the technical info on the Rmax Thermasheath-3 it says the service temperatures is from -40°F to +250°F which I would assume is safe for my use. I am not sure what the temperature rating is on the duct board is.