Hey yall. Just wondering if anyone here has ever heard of/used Aerogel insulation before, why or why not. Considering putting it in my e350 short conversion - headroom is at a premium and an R value of 10.3/inch is appealing. Worth a bit higher of a price tag to me if it'll help keep me cold during these Michigan winters. Also planning on using an Espar gasoline heater, don't worry.
If you're unfamiliar, here's a basic description https://www.aerogel.com/resources/about-aerogel
Thanks in advance
Aerogel is pretty convenient because in addition to being R4 per 10mm (or R10 per inch), it costs about $1 per R value per square foot - which is really expensive. My living space is going to be about 175 sq. ft. so just doing an inch on the floor would be $ and the entire bus might be three times that.
On a shorty maybe this is more affordable, of course.
I've often fantasized about somehow coming across a cache of cheap aerogel scraps, like eight inches wide or something like that, and building prefab insulated flooring panels with them. But I've never come across anything like that; even the one-foot scraps on eBay are as pricey as the bigger chunks.
Aerogel Paint!!!
Ok. Sorry that took me so long. I've actually had the paint up for a while, but my computer crapped out.
SO. So so so. Aerogel Paint is the business. The pictures I'm attaching are where I put the paint on my unused windows, but I also applied it to the floor and the cieling in my "standing area" towards the front.
I got the most expensive one that was available, but at $140/gal on Amazon for the Rova Shield Black HT, which
thickly covered about 45sqft give or take. There were much cheaper ones that you could try too, probably 5 or 6 variants that were cheaper (just because they're rated for less extreme temps). So this may seem a tad expensive, but honestly depending on what your insulation plan was, it may be comparable. For me, I feel I made a mistake only doing the one gallon, then doing other areas with insulation board/ truck bed liner, shredded cellulose, spray foam.... it ended up being massively expensive, and the truck bed liner was a complete waste of time and over $100- it didn't apply well, it's highly toxic and not insulative at all.
When I'm outside, in the MI winter, at 10°F, the other windows are
frigid, obviously. The windows with about 2mm of paint on them? Basically room temperature. With this stuff, it's not so much about R- value as it is about thermal conductivity. It just doesn't let the glass (or metal) change temperature. Room temperature metal, room temperature air. Much easier to maintain the heat/cool that you already have inside the vehicle, and more energy efficient for your heating/cooling appliances. It's also incredibly safe as a building material, no harmful chemicals, though you don't want to breathe the silica dust in, so do wear protective gear when applying.
You can see in the first images the whole windows, you can see I didn't care too much to have a super flat paint job, I just did it with a poly brush I think. I'm going to be putting panels over it, but if you wanted a nice sleek finish you could try roller or foam brush, just make sure if you want a super smooth finish to use an electric mixer, because there will be little silica chunks if you don't. This stuff is so safe though, I'd use my kitchen mixer without thinking twice. That's not advice, it's just something I'd probably do. It's essentially made of Diatomaceous Earth. Just I'd obviously wash it well before putting it in contact with food again.
You can see on the second two images how bad the cracks look. Here's the thing: the paint has the consistency of marshmallow fluff stuff, and I painted in one layer, very thickly. It doesn't appear to have affected the insulative quality, and as long as you let the stuff fully dry and harden (I'd give it a week or two just to be sure) before you're really scuffing up against it, or if you cover it up right away with panel or secondary insulation or flooring or whatever, it will be totally fine. Much sturdier than it initially looks after 24h dry time. You could also try taking more time and applying multiple coats if you were in the mood.
If I could do it over again, I'd paint all the bare metal and my unused windows with the Rova Shield (I estimate 3gal). I just ordered another gallon that I'll paint around the window edges to prevent leaks when I have my window covers on, I checked and the metal is still magnetic through the paint. Wish I'd never bothered with truck bed liner and could have probably foregone quite a bit of other material had I known. But now YOU know. So don't make a mistake! Save up and get that AEROGEL
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