Comments on: How to Install Radiant Barrier in a Shop Using AtticFoil https://www.protoolreviews.com/how-to-install-radiant-barrier-shop/ Professional Tool Reviews for Pros Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:45:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 By: Kenny Koehler https://www.protoolreviews.com/how-to-install-radiant-barrier-shop/#comment-215105 Mon, 27 May 2019 13:45:30 +0000 https://www.protoolreviews.com/?p=45667#comment-215105 In reply to Curt Shields.

Thanks for the thorough explanation – it’s really helpful!

]]> By: Timmy Thompson https://www.protoolreviews.com/how-to-install-radiant-barrier-shop/#comment-215101 Mon, 27 May 2019 01:23:55 +0000 https://www.protoolreviews.com/?p=45667#comment-215101 Mike Courtney

]]> By: Curt Shields https://www.protoolreviews.com/how-to-install-radiant-barrier-shop/#comment-215090 Fri, 24 May 2019 19:31:17 +0000 https://www.protoolreviews.com/?p=45667#comment-215090 TL;DR – The thermal image was incorrectly taken and the temperature differential is probably much less than 20 degrees. The real benefit of a radiant barrier is the reduction in thermal radiation. Think of a black cast iron grill – with a fire going, you can feel the heat from a distance. But if you covered it in a radiant barrier, you wouldn’t feel as much heat despite being the same actual temperature. Same thing with the attic radiant barrier.

Just a heads up – the thermal image at the end of the article may be somewhat misleading, since the point temperature reading on the right side appears to be aimed at the radiant barrier. When using point temperature readings on the camera, the two readings assume the same surface emissivity, so your readings on the radiant barrier will appear to be lower than reality.

Radiant barriers work because they have a low surface emissivity (0.1 or less), but the default setting for most infrared thermographic cameras is 0.95. On most cameras, this setting can be changed, but accurate readings are very difficult on low-emissivity surfaces. It’s often easier to temporarily apply black electrical tape to the target surface, then take temperature readings at that location. You’ll need to make the target large enough to account for the spot size ratio (SSR) of the camera (https://www.flir.com/globalassets/discover/industrial/spot-size-ratio-tech-note_us.pdf).

When comparing before-after conditions of attic spaces, it’s generally easier to hang a few temperature dataloggers (cheap ones abound on Amazon, etc.) in the attic space and compare average temperatures.

Source – I’m a building envelope specialist with a Level I Thermographer certification.

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