Radiant Barrier Simulated Attic Heat Test – EnerflexFoil.com
www.EnerflexFoil.com What is radiant heat and how does Enerflex radiant barrier foil reflect it? An simple way to comprehend the concept of radiant heat is to stand in front of your grill throughout a cookout. The heat you feel standing next to the grill is deemed radiant heat. A radiant barrier will reflect that heat. Heat that is radiated does not necessarily have to come from the sun. Enerflex radiant foil barrier is installed inside your attic, beneath the roof sheathing, so how is it expected to reflect the sun’s rays? The answer is it doesn’t have to reflect the sun’s rays to operate, but it does reflect the radiant heat generated from those rays. On a hot day, heat from the sun is absorbed by the roof and warms up the sheathing beneath, which radiates heat towards the attic floor and standard insulation. All materials emit radiant heat to varying degrees based on their surface temperature. However, installing a radiant foil barrier like Enerflex will reflect up to 96% of this radiant energy back toward the roof. The result The top surface of the insulation is up to 30° cooler than it would have been which reduces the amount of heat that moves through the insulation to the living areas below.
Excellent demo; I bought a few packs to experiment with and it makes a world of difference. I have a Black & Decker non-contact thermometer and discovered my roof sheathing is about 100 deg. on a sunny day. With the radiant barrier in place, those rafter bays are significantly cooler. This video is correct; it was about 30 degrees difference. My woodshop thanks you!!!!
Because Enerflex Radiant barrier is reflective on both sides, a small amount of dust on one side will not adversely affect its performance. In addition, Enerflex is to be positioned between ceiling joists and on vertical gable ends, so very little dust will settle on a surface facing down towards the attic space or on a vertical surface (gable end). Enerflex Radiant Barrier is not intended to be placed on top of insulation on the attic floor; therefore a buildup of dust is highly unlikely.
If the heat is being reflected by the shiny surface, what happens after it’s covered in dust in after a year? Attics are dusty, everyone knows that.