Bubble Wrap Window Insulation

[Fat Charlie]

I'll wrap up every year, thank you.

[order99]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

Northerner problems!

Oddly enough I kept my bubble wrap up all year long and benefitted both Winter and Summer. Due to the slower rate of heat absorbtion, I could heat the house early morning to mid-afternoon and "coast" nearly all afternoon and night...in Summer, the house would just begin to retain the daytime heat after dusk, and I could open the screens on my doors and get a free 'cooldown' from the night air, dumping most of the stored heat without the AC.

In fact when I sold that home and downsized to an 8'x30' Travel Trailer, the new owners decided to keep all my improvements intact. I only hope they remember to disconnect the thermal Solar window units every spring though-using them in Food Dehydrator mode should maximizr thier garden use next year...

[Sven7]

I tried this with the "spray water on the window" option... the bubble wrap fell off almost immediately. Of course it was dawn and water mixed, and 20-something degrees F outside.

I'm thinking I might just buy a 4x8 sheet of insulation foam and prop that against the sliding glass door instead. Right now it's a couple huge pieces of foam covered in aluminum foil on the warm side. They're not big enough to cover the whole door height though...

[redneck]

Originally Posted by Sven7

I tried this with the "spray water on the window" option... the bubble wrap fell off almost immediately. Of course it was dawn and water mixed, and 20-something degrees F outside.

I use water only with a spray mister that applies a even mist. If your having problems with it falling, use tape to hold it in place at the top. When the water dries, it will stay in place till it is pulled off.



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[slowmover]

I use 48" x 25" REFLECTIX on seven of the nine windows of my travel trailer. Mainly for summer heat. Bubble wrap on steroids. Some aluminum tape to join sections. Press-fit into interior window frames. Rigid enough to store well if not in use. It has other uses for me as well. I think of it as GP -- like duct tape -- as it is easy to use, can be doubled up, cut, re-cut and taped in any of a number of configurations.

[order99]

I need to try that-thanks!

[slowmover]

I probably should have stated that Reflectix is aluminum foil on both sides. That the (corrected) three windows of nine I do not cover are the ones best suited to admitting light throughout the day without undue heating of the interior. The others are now blacked out. I can remove the panel in one second and replace it in two. And store these standing in edge.

[freebeard]

When I think of the poor-as-a-church-mouse 1960s, I remember a 60-watt light bulb hanging over the kitchen table and bubble-wrap on the windows.

When I moved into a 35' R-license park model trailer I bubble-wrapped the windows, but I've been replacing it with pop-in pieces of paper-faced tape-edged 1/4" foam.

[ThePrudentNinja]

Old thread (surprised it appears to be the first post of "redneck" and he has 693 posts now) but winter is coming again. It may be HOT now, but in a relatively short time it will be cold again. I'm already thinking about my winter preps.

I've heard of using bubble wrap but didn't know how useful it actually was. Was going to experiment with it this winter. Scored about a hundred or so feed of heavy duty bubble wrap for free about a month ago (the kind used to ship heavy commercial fridges). Been wondering how I will use it exactly. Was interesting packing it all into the car to make one trip do (whole backseat, trunk, and front passenger seat was packed lol).

I'll have to do more research but I considered trying a layering on the north side windows and maybe a layered panel on the south side windows. Maybe window glass, aluminum foil, bubble wrap, cardboard in that order. For north side windows, they would be covered all winter and likely have a layer of plastic over the whole thing. The south side windows I want to be able to open up to let in sunlight during the day but wonder what can be done to reduce heat loss through the crappy single pane windows. At night could just put the "panels" in the windows and be done with it for the night.

What got me thinking about bubble wrap was a few years back I spotted OLD bubble wrap on an OLD house. They had it blending in rather well. It got me to thinking. I found online some say it works but I wanted more verification. Never got around to testing it. This year probably will.

[redneck]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Uh, it (bubble-wrap) holds winter HEAT *IN* just as well as it holds summer HEAT *OUT*.

Bingo...

I have several windows that are left covered year round and have been very pleased with the results.

ThePrudentNinja

The south side windows I want to be able to open up to let in sunlight during the day but wonder what can be done to reduce heat loss through the crappy single pane windows.

Bubble wrap has little effect on sunlight entering the room. It allows radiant heat gain while simultaneously reducing conductive heat transfer. That's a win, win, win, in my book.

Each layer of bubble wrap is roughly equal to having another pane of glass. Multiple layers are easy to do if needed.

Also.

Be sure to caulk all cracks around the windows to reduce drafts.



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