Friday, January 18, 2013

Update to the Smurf's

       Well I am slowly getting done installing my second layer of foam insulation. Last night I had my very first mini test run with the new layer of foam board. It dropped down to freezing 30° and the inside temperature with only the TV and my body heat was 52° this morning. With 2 people the temp would have been 57+ deg F.  I am now even more convinced that with approximately 2 inches of foam board insulation R-10 inside the plywood, one would be able to keep warm down to 10 deg without any great effort or heating required. Its not to bad to live with 50+ deg , its not that hard to get used to, at least for me. Currently I only have R4 with 3/4" of blue foam board onside of the plywood. There is a layer of foam between the metal siding & the interior plywood.

          The same effect would also work for AC in the summer time as the foam board would keep the heat out & allow quite a large trailer to be cooled to 70 deg with only a 5,000 Btu AC running part time. I would estimate that 2,500 - 3,000 Btu would be adequate for cooling.

         As I get a chance I will also try to post some more pictures in the next day or so.


      Soon the new trailer is coming , details to follow.  Thank You - to all the  people at Carmate Trailers.

1 comment:

  1. Hi, what are you going to use to cover the 2nd layer of insulation.? I have been living in my cargo trailer for a year now, and I have found the floor could use a little more insulation. Even in the southern Arizona desert it can get chilly a few nights in the winter. I use a Wave 3 catalytic heater that does fine and no suck on the solar power. I have done just some basic conversion, nothing like your fantastic work.

    Great info, thanks
    Trainman
    http://trainman45.blogspot.com/

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