Aerogel - Spaceloft Insulation for Fridge / Freezer

[bartonman]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

The dust is the finest stuff I've ever seen. It's not toxic or anything but it feels like will dry out the skin on your hands almost instantly. It washes off with soap and water.

I'm almost done with the construction of my box.
I used 1/8" FRP from Home Depot, and installed LED strip lights from oznium.com.
The liner is done, and I'm going to start insulating it this weekend.

Some good information on Aerogels can be found at: Silica Aerogels
"Working with aerogel with your bare hands can have a slight desiccating effect on the skin. This is due to the absorbance of moisture and oils from the skin into the pores of the aerogel. This is more of a nuisance than a hazard and can be avoided by wearing gloves. Cutting and shaping aerogels usually produces a cloud of fine dust. The particles of aerogel in the dust are smooth and round"
The MSDS for Aerogel states it is not a health hazard, but states protective gear should be worn. I will abide by the MSDS, but I think working with fiberglass insulation is more of a pain (literally) than Spaceloft. I've never worked with fiberglass insulation, that it did not have me itching like crazy. Thanks for sharing the LED supplier. I never knew of that one.

[senormechanico]

I'll get some pics and post them tomorrow.
I am building the box from the inside out.
As it's a small front load box, building from the inside out saves greatly on access for finishing touches.
I built most of the box, installed the evaporator, lighting etc, then installed the back of the box.

The only parts original to the refrigerator box are about two inches of the door frame, the hinges for the door and the door frame itself.

I started by putting two layers of 10mm Cryogel Z in the door frame.

It was an Isotherm "Grey Line" air cooled Danfoss all in one with fiberglass insulation in a previous life.

Pics tomorrow, I promise.

[Celestialsailor]

I just received my "Thermablok" Areogel material today for my box which I just built. here's a picture of my box. I made a male mold, gel-coated it and glassed. It is 3.3 cu. ft. I will do 3 layers of the 10mm. blanket which is suppose to be equal to R-31.2
If it's as good as they say it is, I would think it a waste to use any foam with it. I am documenting the box process and will post a thread under the Refer section of the forum. Of course i won't have any results until we are back in the 70s and 80's here again

[senormechanico]

That's a nice looking box.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

That's a nice looking box.

Gracias Senor Mechanico...

[senormechanico]

Photos of the box liner.
We designed it to use maximum hull space which still isn't much.
Notice the high tech spacers under the pop cans while I measure for shelf brackets!

Next comes insulation.

[garymcg]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

That's a nice looking box.

Damn nice box. I was heading down that road myself before a friend pointed out that if I built the box I was planning I didn't have the overhead clearance to actually install it in the boat. There are much easier ways to look stupid.

[garymcg]

Here's mine.

5 layers of alternating Cryogel Z/Spaceloft on the sides, 7 on the bottom (I bought too much).

Liner is 1/8" FRP panel with polycarbonate corner guards. Under the top insulation in this photo is a layer of FRP that's supported by crossmembers made from scrap Corian. The top (no photo of it) is Corian on top of marine plywood with one more layer of insulation on the bottom, with a Glacier Bay VIP hatch that fits in the cutout. It got too cold here to use adhesive to install the top, that part is going to have to wait until spring.

[senormechanico]

Wow. Will your compressor rust away from old age before it runs a second time?

I wish I had room for at least another layer, but the interior room is more important.
Between tripling my solar to 320 watts (next spring), the LiFePo4 batteries, a new keel cooled compressor and this Aerogel, life should be sweet!

[garymcg]

I don't have a super large house bank so I'm trying to keep amp draw to a minimum.

[Celestialsailor]

The salesman I talked to at Thermablok told me that he sold some to a fishing vessel and they turned it off for some reason while out at sea and when the got back into port a day later, the box had dropped one more degree!
The picture below is one of there employees. Amazing stuff!

[senormechanico]

I'm impressed with the stuff, but I can't help thinking that picture is turned 90 degrees to the left.
The flame is bent, and even if it wasn't, the heat going naturally up and around that piece of insulation would be pretty uncomfortable.

[Celestialsailor]

Ya...could be. They sent me a 6"x6" pirce and I tried it with my hand. Only felt heat around it.

[Cotemar]

Is my math off ?

I keep seeing post that say 3 layers of 10mm thick (.400) of Aerogel is = R30

http://www.aerogel.com/products/overview-product.html

ASPEN AEROGELS | Building & Construction Insulation

Aerogels website states that 1 inch thick Aerogel = R10
You will need 7.5 layers of .400 thick (3 inches)Areogel to make it R30

[bartonman]

The Spaceloft has an R-Value of R10.3 per inch. So, to attain an R-Value of R30, you must have at least 3 inches of product thickness. Because the thickness of a single sheet is 0.4" (10mm), you would have to have eight layers which would net almost an R-Value of R33. Three inches of Spaceloft would be equal to 7.5 layers. That's why you need eight full layers. By this calculation one layer of Spaceloft would be equal to an R-Value of 4.12 per 0.4" thickness. I hope this helps.