Foil insulation or reflective insulation has been gaining ground in temperature control in homes. Controlling cold and heat in homes can also help in significant reduction of energy costs. Insulation bubble wraps can be ideal in areas like beneath the floor, attics, walls and windows. The ability to control heat and cold also means that your cooling/heating systems need not work very hard.
Let us therefore under how the insulation bubble wraps works. The bubble wrap foil helps in reflecting radiant heat than absorbing it. Heat moves from warm terrain to cool terrains through conduction, radiation and convection. Fiberglas and similar mass type of insulations can only inhibit heat convection and conduction. These are not helpful in preventing transfer of radiant heat. On the other hand the bubble wrap foil insulation is capable of reflecting radiant heat. It can thus help in keeping your home cooler during summer and warmer during winter like in a thermos.
For instances, when the sun rays strike the roof of a home, it makes the temperatures in the attic to rise and that heat in turn radiates down to the whole house enhancing your home temperature causing your temperature control equipments to work harder. When the attic temperature is controlled through the insulation bubble wrap laid on ceiling joists on the attic, or stapling them under the rafters of the roof, you are helping the temperature control equipments to work more efficiently.
Radiant Floors
Radiant floors are generally helpful in colder climates where warm floors help in reducing the load on cooling systems. These floors work similar to a light bulb throwing energy in different directions. To preserve this radiant energy and focus it in the direction the bubble wrap insulation is used beneath the floor in a way that the radiant energy is recovered and reflected back to the room. This bubble wrap can also be added to water heaters, pipes, roofing, basements, and stud walls. Bubble wrap insulation works best in situations where the main source of heat is radiant heat. This type of insulation is fire retardant and easy for installation. It can save you money, need little maintenance and resistant to puncture or tear, apart from small savings in energy costs.
Advantages of Bubble Wraps
A major advantage brought by insulation bubble wrap is ease of application and the absence of technical requirements. Closed environments need significant amount of energy to maintain cool temperature and bubble wrap can transfer radiant heat inside saving energy costs and preventing rise in temperature inside to keep the environment cool.
Bubble wrap insulation on the roof can also be achieved easily with household tools and can be installed above any window or roof. Another application for bubble wrap is packaging. It can be cut easily with scissors to suit any shape and size and is significantly lightweight allowing easy mobility from one place to the other. By merely spraying water, and pressing over the wet surface single bubble wrap can be attached to glass surfaces. No adhesive is needed to stick the film to glass.
Another advantage of double bubble wrap is its ability to ward off insects and pests. This type of reflective insulation reduces human exposure to elements like molds, mildew, fungus etc due to the plastic foils. It can also prevent scratches on your window and can be easily removed without having to use any dismantling element. Insulation bubble wrap is also growing in popularity thanks to affordable cost compared to hardboard materials. The long shelf life also allows repeated use of bubble wrap over several seasons helping you control internal temperature with great ease.
Additional Benefits For Packaging Applications
Bubble wraps also bring additional benefits in the form of extended protection, excellent cushioning, lower packaging cost, reduced damages to contents in the package, environment friendly and recyclability.
Type and size of bubble wrap is determined by your packaging needs. Diameter of the bubbles in the smallest bubble wrap is 6 mm and can go up to 26 mm bubbles with the largest size. The shock absorption property gets enhanced with larger diameter of the bubbles.
Bubble wrap is also easy for usage and you only need to wrap the material around and secure the wrap with a packing tape. Another important feature is the irrespective of the shape of the material, bubble wrap fits the internal surface protecting any awkward shape. For vendors selling cylindrical objects, jewellery, electronic products like mobile phones, handheld devices or other sophisticated computer products, bubble wrap comes as a great boon.
Other Applications
Bubble wrap is also offered in varying sizes, coloured or antistatic as well as self sealing bubble pouches. Laying a bubble wrap sheet at the bottom of your toolbox will prevent the tools from clanking hen the toolbox is going places, such as in the case of a handyman. Similarly, if you grow strawberries, you can large piece of the bubble wrap in the shape of cork hoop and place it in a way that the strawberries don’t touch the ground.
Popping the bubbles in the bubble wrap has been recognized as a great stress reliever, relieving aggression and tension. You can also use the bubble wraps as an easy, cheap and quick way to protect your knees or cleaning the floor. You need to only fold a few sheets and them securely to each knee. You may not have a freezer bag during long trips. The bubble wrap comes to your aid on these occasions to insulate food and other edibles and keep them cold for some time.
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