Technical Bulletin 0314 - Phenolic vs. Cellular Glass Insulation in Cold Piping Applications

10 March 2014   Technical Bulletin 0314

Phenolic vs. Cellular Glass Insulation in Cold Piping Applications   A short summary is included below. Click here for the complete Technical Bulletin   Phenolic and cellular glass mechanical insulation have each been demonstrated as viable choices for cold applications when 25/50 (per ASTM E84) is required, particularly in chilled water applications. This Technical Bulletin offers an objective comparison - - with the conclusion that when comparing both side by side, the overall advantages clearly belong to phenolic. The new phenolic is not the old phenolic New catalysts with minimum detectable halogens Low water absorption (the difference between 0.9% for phenolic vs. 0.2 for cellular glass is not material) Phenolic with 60% better insulating value 0.18 versus 0.30 at 50°F 2.5 inches versus 4.5 inches thickness in a typical 50°F scenario Phenolic is roughly 67% lower cost per board foot Plus lower fabrication/installation costs #2 and 3 above when taken together puts phenolic capital costs possibly at one-third that cellular glass - - and that's ignoring fabrication and installation Phenolic is one-third the weight of cellular glass 6 times more weight per linear foot in the 2.5 vs 4.5 inch scenario   In summary, both phenolic and cellular glass have been demonstrated as viable choices as insulation for cold applications when 25/50 is required. However, when comparing both side by side, the overall advantages clearly belong to phenolic.   Below is a link to the full Technical Bulletin   TECHNICAL BULLETIN 0314

For Sales Inquiries For sales call (800) 433-5551 or contact us at sales@dyplast.us or view our website at www.dyplast.com    At Dyplast we stand ready to help provide you with the right answers to your mechanical insulation, sheet insulation, and composite panel needs.    Give us a call today!

TECHNICAL BULLETIN 1128 UPDATES

You may recall our recent email newsletter, blog, and LinkedIn/Facebook postings of our Technical Bulletin 1128 “MECHANICAL INSULATION IN TYPICAL REFRIGERATION APPLICATIONS”.

 

Responses to our Bulletin have been very positive, and our friends have made some good suggestions/clarifications that we thought we should consolidate and send along.

Listed below are comments from a few Followers along with our response to each. Thank you to each and every one who responded. Your questions and comments are appreciated.

·         The Bulletin states that EPS and XPS melt at 165°F and that is not technically correct. We should have rather said they begin to “soften” at 165F. Yet we believe the ultimate conclusion remains the same - -  that the maximum service temperature is generally 165°F for both EPS and XPS.

·         The Bulletin’s data on XPS was based on public data then available on the major manufacturer’s website.  We overlooked data from another XPS manufacturer that more recently entered the XPS billet market. This newer manufacturer creates billets by gluing together sheets of XPS.  These billets have a stated Water Absorption (WA) of 1.0% versus the 0.5% presented in the Bulletin, and the actual range for WA can be from 0.3% to 1%.

·         The new manufacturer of XPS also states R value is 5.0, but the manufacturer does not indicate (on information available to us) whether this is an “aged” value or an “initial”.  The 3.9R value stated in the Bulletin is from the supplier of XPS billets that are a continuously extruded material, and the 3.9R is presented as an aged value per ASTM procedures.

·         Based on some test results just received for Phenolic, we should update its WVT to 3.3 perm-in and its WA to 0.9% by volume.  In the Bulletin’s Table 2 (Water Vapor Transmission for Different Insulants) this would place it after expanded polystyrene and above Trymer 2000XP polyisocyanurate when sorted by WVT. Note that the Phenolic properties still meet the ASTM C1126 standards for both WVT and WA. 

Dyplast’s Technical Bulletin has been updated and is available at:  http://www.dyplastproducts.com/Customer_Bulletins/TECHNICAL_BULLETIN_1128.pdf.

As always, Dyplast welcomes comments and suggestions and strives to present accurate information useful to the industry.