Does Reflectix Work? A quick review of Reflectix radiant Insulation
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Is your attic too hot? Does Reflectix Insulation really lower the radiant heat? Will it actually reduce the temperature by 20 degrees?
Watch this quick review as we test it out to see if it is worth the money.
Purchase from Amazon: amzn.to/3N13QaF
Perfect video thx!
Glad you liked it!
I'm coming back after a year of research and building. Last year there was no fiber glass to be had and I could not afford foam so I went with rolls of 100 ft long 4 ft wide reflectix. We have just been through a tough winter and when it was 17 degrees outside, with three 110 heaters it was 70 in the cabin. Last year I ran two old window units at 6000 BTU and one portable which made its own heat at 8000 BTU and with heat index of a 112, it was a comfortable 81 because the air was dry and I have a huge ceiling fan. This year I am upgrading my AC units and will install one with a remote control in the loft. I will come back and report next year. Reflectix for the win!!
Mini splits for the win. 🌞
Any updates? Looking to do the exact same thing.
It’s been a year. Please update us
It works in auto windshields.
I used this product on my patio & it works! Much cooler in the summer!
Unfortunately this doesn't really show anything. Your IR thermometer will show lower temperatures on a shiny surfaces vs a dull darker surface even if those surfaces are the exact same temperature.
You would be better off measuring ambient temp before the install, and then after the install on a similar day.
Dangit Chris.... just had to ruin the emotional victory with cold hard facts...
You and your confounded Vulcan logic :)
Yes measure outside temperature and inside before then place insulation repeat measurements at same time next day that way you won’t have to worry if the temp changed outside over the time to install.
you channel air from the soffits to the ridge vent. you should have fully perforated soffits and a good ridge vent that can handle the air flow. It Will lower the temperature in your attic
@@phil-spinelli What you said is true, but has nothing to do with the comment to which you responded.
thanks for the video. I was also suprised to find mostly 10 yr old videos by radiant salesmen on YT. I was also looking for info about RB vs insulation however with insulation you'd still have hot beams exposed. A co worker has a newer home and said it came with RB in attic which shows me it's not snake oil. This will be my project next week before it gets hot
Now I really got the actual room temperature between the insulated area from a non-insulated one. Good job, Sir! 🥰👍💜💛💙
Those infrared thermometers need to be calibrated to the surface reflectivity and you are going from 1 extreme to the other. There should be a chart inside the battery tray giving you instructions on what to do for an accurate measurement
Put a piece of tape on the reflectivity and measure there....
Yes, you channel air from the soffits to the ridge vent. you should have fully perforated soffits and a good ridge vent that can handle the air flow
Yes it works as long as you have air movement. Our upstairs bedrooms would stay hot all night long from an overheated attic, even after adding more fiberglass insulation. After adding additional soffit vents and a ridge vent, then the aluminum / mylar raidant barrier the attic and upstairs bedrooms were much cooler. Easily 10ºF-20ºF. From Ohio, where it does get hot from June to September.
Quick, simple, clear. Thank you
You're welcome!
You may be able to adjust your instrument for the lower emissivity of foil which is about 5% vs surfaces like the wood which would match close to what your meter is set at, 96%.
I would think putting a piece of masking tape on the foil would work too. Pointing the meter at the tape would then give the proper reading for the temperature of the foil.
@@kevinsmith7959 Yes and I would think it would be cooler because of the resistance of the airspace and the bubble wrap, but measuring the surface temperature doesn't show the benefit of the low emissivity and therefore the reduced amount of radiation. Even if both surfaces are the same temperature, the foil is passing much less heat via radiation. Better would be to measure the air temperature of the attic before and after.
@@krperry2007 Agreed. However, measuring the foil surface temp would tell a lot.
My belief would be that the big gain of the reflectix is from the emissivity of the side facing the roof and the emissivity of the side facing the room doesn’t really matter.
Since thermal radiation is based on the temperature difference of the surfaces, the hot roof radiates a lot of thermal energy. (Much hotter than the room) but the inner foil is in contact with the room air so I doubt it’s much hotter than the room and therefore thermal radiation is minimal. (Convection would be the primary heat transfer.)
If that’s right, the emissivity of the side facing the room simply messes with the IR sensor but doesn’t provide any real insulating value.
@@kevinsmith7959 Makes sense to me! only the R value of the inside air, on the order of .2 or so.
From what I know the IR won’t give a true reading on any reflective surfaces
I been working on a video where I install 3/4" closed cell insulation in my shed. There is roughly 45 degrees difference using my Fluke IR camera. I was suppose to finish the roof today but things came out. The insulation I used has a reflective barrier on each side. The 4x8 ft sheet was $21 and they have this locally at the time of purchase. I want to convert my shed to a solar power plant lol. I live in South Texas so cant use the shed or work bench in the summer heat.
We wrapped this around our 60 gallon hot water tank. Saw a distinct drop in our bill.
That's a great idea. I should try that too.
im in the process of installing this also throwing some on garage ceiling drywall and on top of studs. I will have 3 lawyers
why do you need lawyers to install insulation? i know spell correct .lol.
They'll just get in each others' way.
Instead of throwing the old layer of R-19 out of my attic, I pushed it into the rafters (leaving an air gap) and secured it with reflective mylar film. Now I have two attic zones- the first carries air from the soffit to the ridge vent directly cooling the roof. The second space stays mild and is thermostatically vented by my 1.35 amp gable fan. Now that fan only runs two hours on hot days- saving $10 off my summer monthly power bill. This alone should pay off the new R30 insulation in ten years.
That is a really smart idea.
I put radiant barrier in my shop building and after 5 years it started crumbling down in flakes. 15 years later most of it is gone and I have to sweep it off the floor regularly. I would not use it again. I do live in a pretty hot climate.
I’m confused. Some videos show silver side facing away from inside . This video shows facing towards inside. What’s the correct way to install?
The manufacturer says the shiny side goes out not in.
I used 1 layer on my 28ft trailer, complete wrap even on the ground, -27F was 65 inside with a 350w heater. Adding 1 layer all around and a 3 rd layer to the roof. Resisto makes silver /white in 8ft x 125ft. Was good at keeping heat in, not so good keeping heat out. More results next month.
I'm interested to see your results are next month!
@@OurBlackCatCottage I have insulation test short,low of -1 no heat for 27hr,outside temp was 5c sensor was in the sun. One day I had a difference of 100f ,-33 +68
We have it in our house it works great
How long have you had it installed?
Excellent demo
should have also checked the temp on the roof tiles.
Very cool. Thanks!
dude that was awe some. now i see your date shows March 6, but is the attic heated or is there heat in the attic from the ground floor? was this showing the outside temperature? What climate are you living in? I am in Central Ontario Canada and have to replace a bad roof down to the deck and insulation. I have research foil and other types and ATTIC FOIL is the one from the US but the tariffs make it a lot more expensive. I am told i can lay it on the insulation or staple it to the trusses, whats you thoughts. Thanks for anything you can offer, nice to have real people point of view.
It is a hot day here in southern Colorado. The outside temperature is about 95 degrees so I just went out and tested it again. The part without the Reflectix (there is a small part I couldn't reach) is about 120 and with the Reflectix is about 100. This is all in fahrenheit. It is just a converted garage so there is no heat from down below.
I also just tested my workshop. There is a small strip that doesn't have it - I ran out - and the rest does. The part without was about 105 and the part with was around 93.
Because Reflectix basically just stops radiant heat, it needs to be installed with an air gap. I just put it over my roof rafters. If you attach it direct to something like the back of the roof deck, then you will still get conduction heat transfer so it will be pretty much useless.
Also, since you are in Canada, this stuff doesn't really do much to keep out the cold.
@@OurBlackCatCottage Than you I appreciate the information. I have been told from attic foil that if you lay the material on top of your insulation across your roof, you need the one with pin holes, it will prevent the heat from coming off the roof and into the house and will also reflect the heat,in winter, from the house back down into the house, keeping the house warmer with less energy and keeping the attic cold stopping ice damns. SO it sounds like a winner for me. Thank you for taking the time and showing us your results. Have a great day.
Boss of the Swamp is in NH and used it to “insulate” the underside of his floors and the skirt around his pier built cottage. He can put water bottles in his unheated crawl space and they don’t freeze , even in 0 degrees F
The infrared thermometer test is misleading because the back side of the radiant barrier is not going to have the same emissivity as the wood. For this reason, IR thermometers are not accurate at measuring the temperature of things that have different emissivity. (If you do a search on CZcams for "Emissivity demonstration" you will find many physics class demos explaining the concept. Shiny reflective surfaces do not emit IR as well, so the IR reading simply does not give a good indication of its temperature. Matte dark surfaces are the best at emitting IR for any temperature.) For an accurate test, you need a matte black sticker on the wood, and the same matte black sticker somewhere on the radiant barrier, and you need to do the IR reading on the sticker only. By comparing the IR reading off of the same kind of surface (one with good emissivity, where the IR reading most accurately tells its temperature) your IR thermometer reading will be accurate. If you don't do this, the readings are misleading.
For a good demo of this, you can get two paint cans, paint the surface of one matte black, and polish the other or tape foil tape on it so it is super shiny, then fill both with boiling water. After a minute or so, both cans should be at the temperature of the boiling water inside. Read both using the IR thermometer. You will get wildly different readings though a hand-test (feeling the can with your hand) will show you that the temperatures are the same. This is the clearest demonstration that IR readings only make meaningful comparisons if you read off of the same kind of surface, and if that surface is emissive enough where the IR reading gives a realistic indicator of the thing's temperature.
I want to see my open ceiling boards on my off grid cabin, can I use reflected on the roof before my metal?
Where does all the hot air behind the Reflectix go? Is there a ridge vent or gable end fan?
I left a few inches from the top and I have a gable fan. Ridge vent would probably be better but it was easier for me to install the gable fan.
But, if the heat is released into the interior anyway to be evacuated by the fan, what is the benefit of using Reflectix?
I would also be curious about a comparison between shingle temps between those over Reflectix and those not.
@@markdavisson3518good thought
What about for the winter?
In my experience it is more for the summer heat than the winter cold.
Gotta say, i hate when there are so many NAY SAYERS out there, that one , never used it themselves and two refuse to believe something so simple can make a difference.. That is one reason MOST NAY SAYERS never accomplish anything. NO RISK NO REWARD....
after a full install did you garage become 20 degrees cooler?
I haven' finished the whole garage yet but I noticed that the hotter it gets the better it works. Last week was pretty warm - in the 90s - so I tested it again. The ceiling without it was over 115 and the part with it was 89. I was blown away. I am almost done - the Lowes nearest me has been out of the 48' that I need to finish - but I already noticed a big difference with it about 2/3 completed.
@@OurBlackCatCottage thanks for the update. most videos seem to be from sellers so I suspected it was a scam. I hope you can get what you need to finish. Will be interesting to see if that radiant variance also translates to ambient temp reduction.
@@ocrun6765 I know what you are saying. I was a bit suspicious too. I will say that you have to give it air space. If you just put in next to the roof it won't do anything.
@@OurBlackCatCottage even the Reflectix company shows an option to staple it direct to the underside of the decking in their YT vid. What you are saying makes more sense that it has to have an air gap.
I originally just bought it because I have 2x4 rafters and high R value insulation wouldn't fit and rigid foam would have been a nightmare to install. I had no idea the difference between conduction vs radiant till after I installed it and tested it.
This was all a happy accident. But now I see that the couple inch air gap and the radiant barrier are so much better than regular insulation.
The air bobbles are probably lowering the temperature more than the aluminum
That could be part of it for sure.
Now that it's finished what is your opinion of it overall
I have had in installed now since March and even put it in my workshop. And I am glad I did it. It has lowered the temperature of my roof by about 15 degrees. I have been impressed by it.
@@OurBlackCatCottage I’m pretty sure it didn’t lower the temperature of your roof one iota. It may even have raised it with no place for the heat to go. It might make the usable space cooler but I can’t lower the temperature of your roof
@@fishhuntadventure yes, you are correct the roof temperature will be the same but the attic air temperature is empirically lower, assuming the air intakes aren't plugged up.
That rafter @ 0:02 is not properly spliced. This 1x4s should be extend a couple of feet past the crack. They are waaaay too short.
If you are trying to keep heat out, add soffit vents and a ridge vent, and make sure to seal all of your seams with reflective tape.
If you put drywall up tight against that Reflectix, you will lose a lot of the insulation value. Radiant barriers need a minimum air gap of 3/4" inch. 1" is better. There's not much gain past 1".
czcams.com/video/aU4q6RKaOQQ/video.html
While Reflectix does work, this video is misleading. You can not use an infrared thermometer on a bare wood surface and an aluminum surface without changing the calibration for the emissivity of the material. Doing so skews the results and makes them inaccurate.
Glad you enjoyed it!
to do this correctly, install it on the actual roof wood between the trusses, then do what you did for the true barrier to reach it's full potential, just like they say for crawl spaces.
A radiant barrier only works if there is an air gap. If the foil is touching the hot wood, the heat will simply pass through the foil via conduction.
Please do some research before putting this up. If you don’t get the ventilation correct you will cook your roof and shorten it’s lifespan
Glad you enjoyed it!
Not enough r value. But good enough for low use areas.
it's just extra insulation. too go along with existing insulation
Now install any other thin material there and it'll also be cooler too. Bad test.
Thanks for watching! Glad you liked it!
What about rodents getting in the gaps
The inferred thermometer will not work on reflective surfaces like that bubble wrap. You are probably measuring the reflection off of the bubble wrap.
Glad you enjoyed the video!!
Emissivity was not reset between 2 totally different materials. This video is wholly inaccurate. Sorry. Not a good product for serious insulation.
Not a correct measurement.
Probably but it was interesting.