Bill, what's a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy?

I think I would replace that insulation with some spray in foam. It insulates much better and reduces noise as well. I would use an open cell foam and fill those cavities flush.

Jim & Tere,
Look here

Nick

js, thought about the foam, but to do the whole thing would cost over $600.00. Great idea, but the $$ stand in the way. I know I will spend too much on this anyway, but don't want to go too crazy.

Saw the heaters, considering it. not sure which way I will go.


John

quote:

Originally posted by jsloan:
I think I would replace that insulation with some spray in foam. It insulates much better and reduces noise as well. I would use an open cell foam and fill those cavities flush.

Certainly foam insulates better, but, given the large glass area in a Barth, I wonder how much overall improvement there would be.

Also, much of the heat loss makes an end run around the insulation, using the aluminum ribs. Aluminum transfers heat very efficiently.

My 70 barth has foam insulation from the factory.I'ts verry quiet when running down the road.Also verry efficient for heating and cooling.

did you get a quote from an installer? I got 5" sprayed in for just over a buck a square. your lookin at 2" I bet if you got a quote to bring it onsite to an installer you could get it done for around 200 bucks. I may be way off base, but i bet...

I had looked into kits that you buy and do yourself. I will try some locals and see what they have to say.

thx
John

After talking about this in chat the other night, I did a little more looking and must concede that Rusty was correct in that you would want closed cell spray on. 2" would give you around R-15. I'm sure you are getting much less than that with glass. I have an old home and while there is no insulation in the walls, the attic area was really causing me a lot of grief trying to cool my house. It would be around 140 degrees by 11am. The spray in really helped out in the comfort level of my house as well as dropping about 25% off my cooling bill. More comfort, less running of the unit.

On an old SOB we tried the Herculiner Bed Liner on the roof thinking it would be both strong and waterproof. Wrong! Even with 1/4" of the stuff water passed through. Talked with them and they said the material forms beads to provide a wear surface but is not waterproof. So my suggestion is to take the propane tank out and strip off the valves and then get it powder coated. It will be fully sealed, durable and will outlast us. Two years ago the charge as $125 - the minimum.

How about a couple of coats of Rustoleum?

I'm also thinking about changing insulation in my barth. The stud walls are only 1 1/2" and from sprayfoam.com "Open-cell SPF has an R-value around 3.5 per inch and typically uses water as the blowing agent. Closed-cell SPF has an R-value of around 6.0 per inch (aged R-value) and uses high R-value blowing agents." That would give an r value of 9. The fiberglass thats there already should be be around r value of 6. Is there another foam or method of getting a higher r value without making thicker walls?

quote:

Originally posted by Tom K:
On an old SOB we tried the Herculiner Bed Liner on the roof thinking it would be both strong and waterproof. Wrong! Even with 1/4" of the stuff water passed through. Talked with them and they said the material forms beads to provide a wear surface but is not waterproof.

That fits right in with what I have observed with rust underneath the coating on pickup beds.

Dusty, there are different grades of closed cell foam but i can tell you that if you compared foam R-factor to fiberglass R-factor the foam would out perform every time. The foam seals and does not let air flow in or out. Fiberglass is very porous... think air filter. Rarely is fiberglass installed according to MFR specs. It MUST be sealed on all 6 sides to be effective. It cannot be compressed. It is mainly used because it is the cheapest solution.