SES Spray Foam, anyone? (Sucra Seal)
eldarchik
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
Anyone have experience with this foam product? Suppose to be “Green”. It is rated R6.5 for their closed cell.
I received several quotes from different foam installers (different products). The installer that sprays SES (Sucra Seal) quoted me significantly lower than the rest (25% less). I was wondering if anyone has experience with this product which suppose to be the most environmentally friendly foam product out there (not sure how true this is).
Other products i was quoted on were (Icynene and Covestro)
Please advise.
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Replies
Eldarchik,
Most green experts discount the claims of spray foam manufacturers who boast about "bio-based" ingredients. These plant-based oils make up a small percentage of the ingredients list, and don't really make the product more "green."
The boast on the company website about "no ozone depleting CFSs" is also meaningless. CFCs have been banned for years.
That said, this brand of foam may be a good product.
Note SES comes in 0.5lb and 1.0 lb densities. Most closed cell foam is 2lbs. At half the polymer (or less) the 1lb foam absolutely SHOULD be cheaper than closed cell foam. At 3.5" it's only R3.7/inch, which is the same as the half-pound product, despite testing at R4.1 for at a 1" thickness. See:
http://sesfoam.com/download/tds-ses-sucraseal-spray-foam/?wpdmdl=411 )
The half-pound foam is probably comparable in price/performance from other half-pound foams from other vendors.
Their 2lb foam sis called Nexseal 2.0 , and is alleged to test at R7/inch:
http://sesfoam.com/download/msds-sucraseal-0-5-lb-spf-2/?wpdmdl=1069
Note they claim it is blown only with "low global warming potential blowing agents" - probably HFO1234ze . Most HFO blown foam comes in at ~R7/inch, which is consistent with that guess. HFO blown foam is quite a bit more environmentally friendly than the industry standard HFC245fa more commonly used for 2lb foam, but it's still nearly 4x the amount of polymer per R of 0.5lb foam.
Couldn't find any information on an R6.5/inch version of the product.