R-30 Panel – Wanessa-Sue ?
jackofalltrades777
| Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on
This manufacturer is claiming an R-30 panel and no thermal bridging. Looking at the design, the steel goes from exterior to interior, so this would be a thermal bridge. Anyone heard of or researched these panels?
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Replies
Peter,
The web site has all of the warning signs that can be found when a company is exaggerating about energy performance.
1. There is no link to a lab report with third-party testing of the product's R-value.
2. There is no explanation of why these panels perform at R-5.45 per inch (as claimed) when the materials are EPS (usually R-4 per inch, although occasionally higher) and steel (a conductor, not an insulator).
3. The company uses the phrase "Effective R-value," a phrase which has no legal definition and is often a sign indicating "exaggerated claims ahead."
4. The company doesn't explain why the steel studs aren't acting as thermal bridges.
5. The web site doesn't know how to spell "thermal break," instead referring to a "thermal brake."
So, until the web site improves, I advise: Stay away from this company.
One more warning sign--the company name sounds like what you'll be asking yourself when you discover the high energy costs in your newly built building: "Wanna sue?"
I suspect the quotation marks around the R in '...EFFECTIVE "R" VALUE = 30...' indiecate that they mean something different than R30 continuous insulation. It's whole wall performance may be comparable to R30 insulation in 2 x 10 framing, at a 25% framing fraction, but even that might be a bit of a stretch.
Dana,
It's a marketer's dream!
1. "Effective R-value" has no legal definition, so it can mean whatever the marketers want it to mean (and readers are left in the dark).
2. As the company's lawyers will confirm, when you put quotation marks around something, you are speaking ironically -- so the company isn't really talking about R-value at all, just a number that isn't really R-value. Result: No FTC fines!
I got to see this system being put together here in Flagstaff, Arizona. At a glance, things look like they are thermally broken, but once you factor in the actual installation requirements there is steel thermal bridging everywhere. At the top and bottom of each panel, there is a steel C channel. That c channel connects the interior and exterior steel studs at every transition – bottom of wall, top of wall, intermediate floors, etc. In addition at every corner of the house, steel goes through the building assembly. The steel C channels range in size, with some with a 12 inch vertical leg. Quite the area to collect heat and move it through the assembly.
Flagstaff has pretty cold winters and I bet they will have condensation on the interior face of finishes. Everyone assumes it's a dry climate here, but I have seen mold and moisture issues in many of the wood frame structures I've worked on.
I can't wait to put an infrared camera on this project.
4 years ago I bought a a trailer hoping to start some sort of food concession. I didn't know much about trailers or food concession, So that trailer didn't do the job for me. However, I did find out that this was an airlight building panels, trade show, demo trailer. It had a small closed room inside that had a window and contained a thermometer and an electric heater, presumably kept quite warm during trade shows to demonstrate its insulative value. I ended up removing that section. I installed electrical, finished the inside and sheeted the outside, put a corrugated metal roof on it.
I can tell you, after doing an extensive amount of work on this trailer, none of the external steel has any contact with the internal steel. I live in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho where the winter temperatures hover in the teens and twenties and occasionally get down to the single digits. Summertime gets up to around 110 for about 2 weeks a year. I ended up living in this trailer for a year and a half, through two Winters and one summer.
I don't know much about R values, but with an electric oil heater on low, I was comfortable all winter, twice. And a portable air conditioner, also on low, kept me cool through the summer.
I didn't know anything about this company until after I had purchased this trailer. I can say with confidence, I would recommend their product to anybody interested in alternative building products.
If anyone would like to see photos of my trailer, please message me and I will be happy to forward them.