Tim Renouf
Wren Concertina Foil Batts
Unit 5, 19 Abbott St
SANDRINGHAM VIC 3191
Dear Tim,
I thought I should give you feedback on the effectiveness of your
Concertina FOIL BATTS.
Before I installed the batts in the ceiling of my mother’s unit in Canterbury, summer was an ordeal.
Whenever there was a series of hot days the roof, which was insulated with fibreglass batts, would heat up
and the whole unit would become unbearable. A comfortable sleep became an impossibility.
The first time I saw your product I decided to install some in between the
rafters over my bedroom to see if
there was any difference in the temperature at night. Remarkably even though I covered what would amount
to 1/4 of the roof space
there was a sizable difference in the temperature of my bedroom at night after
a hot day.
I thus resolved to go all the way lay aluminum FOIL BATTS across the whole roof
. This amounted a short cut
but I believed it would produce results. It took one day of torture inside a 35 degree roof but the job was done.
The results have been very pleasing indeed. On a 40 degree day, if I shut the
house up completely, I will step into
a house which is 25-26 degrees inside. By night this seems to go
down to a comfortable 22 degrees celcius.
In addition I have installed two other aids to reducing the temperature during
the Summer. Firstly, I bought the
reflective RENSHADE perforated foil from your company which I cut to shape and placed over northern facing
windows on my mother's unit. Also there are other windows at the rear of the unit exposed to the radiant heat
from a bricked courtyard. I placed RENSHADE over these..
There is nothing worse than coming hot day and trying to have a cool shower in a bathroom that's an oven.
Again the product seems to have worked very effectively as even on the hottest day the bathroom and bedroom
which faces the northern sun are fairly cool.
Secondly I have installed an air extraction fan in the roof which is
thermostatic. It activates once the roof temperature
reaches 28 degrees celcius, and draws out the hot air.
This has also contributed towards increasing comfort levels inside the unit.
In conclusion I would say that your product and your advice has made life a lot
more comfortable, and has saved me
using the air conditioner since I installed them.
The next task will be to install several ceiling fans to distribute air throughout the building.
I would be pleased to hear
from you if you have any advice.
Installing Concertina FOIL BATTS has also encouraged me to look at installing
solar power to make the unit less
dependent on centrally provided grid power.
With thanks,
David Ayers
Melbourne, Vic
Hi Tim,
I received your e-mail while I was away on holidays. Again I must say that the
product you sell, the Concertina
FOIL BATTS, is extremely effective in both
Summer and Winter. Last Summer due to the insulation provided by
your batts I did not have to use my air-conditioning once. Even
when temperatures reached 38 degrees Celcius,
outside, inside the house the highest
temperature gained was 26 deg C. At night this temperature reduced to
below 20 deg to allow comfortable sleep.
The FOIL BATTS combined with a thermostatic fan which draws out the
hot air from inside the roof, and prevents
it sitting in the roof made the unit quite comfortable during the hottest days.
Another product which has protected the
unit from heat is the perforated foil RENSHADE which I have attached to
my windows which face north, and my
bathroom and toilet windows which face a brick courtyard.
It is amazing how much heat absorption is
reduced by putting the foil over the bedroom windows.
The fact that light is reduced into these
windows is not that important because of the glare outside during summer
tends to produce enough light anyway.
Before I used the window foil on the
bathroom and toilet windows it was unbearable to go in there after a hot day.
With the RENSHADE covering, both these
rooms remained quite cool, even on days that exceeded 40 degrees.
The other day I passed some new housing estates in Melbourne. To my horror it
seems that new buildings are no
longer designed for Australian conditions.
Many of the two story mansions I saw had no eaves protecting the
windows from the sun, and had no trees
planted near them to absorb the heat. This basically means that unless the
air-conditioning is running twenty-four
hours a day the people inside will cook!!
No
wonder the private energy companies are talking about power restrictions during
Summer.
Best of Luck
David Ayers