“INFOLINK” INTERVIEW WITH INSULATION INDUSTRY |
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Claims guide is biased against foil |
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Commentary
by Tim Renouf The comments
by FARIMA (Fibreglass and Rockwool Insulation Manufacturers Association)
are fascinating. The fibreglass
industry make the majority of foil insulation in Australia and market
the use of bulk combined with foil insulations often without information
as to how the foil functions thermally. Example – in
hot western facing walls, there must be a guaranteed airgap between
foil wraps and fibre batts, otherwise the inward facing 3% low emitting
aluminium surface will conduct 100% of inward radiation into the fibres,
causing heat transfer through the batts and onto the internal walls.
Roof spaces can typically have temperatures of 50-70 degC, an energy
load effect even greater on bulk insulations than in walls. Bulk insulations
are officially tested for conducted heat between two fixed temperature
plates set at 33 and 13 degC for a four hour duration, known as Steady-State, a test method coming from Europe-USA with cold winter-dominated
climates where more heat is lost from buildings than is entering – refer
TRUTH in Wren website. By comparison,
in Australia, a case could be put that more radiant heat energy flows
into buildings than is lost. Why, because the majority of our population
live in climates comparatively milder in winter and hotter in summer
than Europe-USA. The new insulation
Standard AS/NZS4859.1(2002) requires all environmental factors, including
radiant energy, to be assessed for all insulation materials. Unfortunately,
no local thermal testing facility exists to assess realistic high temperature
radiation effects on insulation materials. FARIMA, for vested
commercial interests, always promote bulk insulation over foil, a situation
which has occurred in Australia for the past 45 years. AFIA is informed
that it costs approximately $100,000 to restart a fibreglass machine,
which effectively means that production must be continuous – 24 hours
per day, every day. It is not in FARIMA’s interests to fully educate
the public about the benefits of foil insulations.
Aluminium foil
insulations with airspaces have the ability to continuously and permanently
resist radiation, the single greatest source of energy in Australia.
Bulk insulations have never been tested in Australia to resist high
temperature radiation. Tim Renouf Hon. Secretary
AFIA Aluminium Foil
Insulation Association Inc. (Vic. 1998) C/- Wren Concertina
Foil Batts Unit 5, 19 Abbott St SANDRINGHAM Vic. 3191 Tel: 03 9598-3075 |