Insuladd, Thermilate, & Hy-Tech, Paint Additives: Gross Exaggeration of Energy Saving Potential
Jan 02 '02 (Updated Oct 25 '09)
The Bottom Line The advertised "potential" energy savings from paint additives are grossly exaggerated and unsubstantiated by an unbiased test agency. Results published are only from Insuladd's own "sponsored" research.
Update July 2009
I note with amusement that Insuladd now offer a "money back guarantee" if you purchase their paint additive and apply it as directed, they will give you a refund, if you don't realize at least a 10% reduction in energy costs in the following year. They seem to have slipped from promises of "up to 40% in heating and cooling energy savings" to a money back guarantee of at least up to 10%. Most of the advertisements I've seen from these companies recently imply savings of up to 20% or more, which would still attract my attention in these days of high cost energy we still struggle with. Unfortunately, they still haven't provided a single case in which such savings were achieved and the results can be verified scientifically.
The continued display of the coveted Energy Star Logo on some of their websites, above technical comments about their paint additives, simply flies in the face of the truth. I took the time to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA had this to say about this product:
The following Questions and Answers are taken directly from the ENERGY STAR website at:
http://energystar.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/energystar.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?
Question
Does ceramic paint work as insulation? Can these paints be ENERGY STAR qualified?
Answer
EPA does not recommend paints and coatings be used in place of traditional bulk insulation. We haven’t seen any independent studies which can verify their insulating qualities. (My highlights.)
EPA qualifies paint only as a roof coating in our Roofs program (generally used for the top of a commercial building roof). Roof coatings are NOT insulation. They reflect solar heat off a roof rather than absorbing it keeping the building cooler. Learn more about the ENERGY STAR Roof program.
If a manufacturer uses their status as an ENERGY STAR Roofs Partner to imply that EPA or DOE recommend ceramic paint products and/or considers ceramic paint "insulation" then please report this to us at logomisuse@energystar.gov."
I received an email from a representative of EPA informing me that they have asked Tech Traders to stop implying that their paint additive product is endorsed by Energy Star or EPA. The Insuladd website implies this product is Energy Star approved because they have a roofing product that is approved by Energy Star, making them an Energy Star "partner". However, their partner status does not extend to the inclusion of this paint additive.
Suffice to say that all of of the so-called insulating paint additives from Insuladd and their competitors Hy-Tech and Thermilate are all grossly exaggerating the potential fuel savings of their products, which range from more than 20% to up to 40%. If a company can not prove the promised energy savings they should be taken to task by the U.S. Bureau of Consumer Protection and the Federal Trade Commission.
What does the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) say about this subject?
Excerpt: Quoted verbatim from the United States of America, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Letter dated 02/09/2004, it sets out the rationale for meeting the requirements of the FTC’s Rule for Label and Advertising of Home Insulation(“R-value” Rule) (16 C.F.R. Part 460).
The Rule states that R-values given on labels, fact sheets, ads or other promotional Material must be based on uniform R-value test procedures that measure thermal performance under “steady-state” (i.e., static) conditions. Section 460.5 of the Rule Specifies the tests manufacturers must use for their insulation products, including
Specific tests for reflective insulations (see 16C.F.R. & 460.5 (b), (c) & (d). Manufacturers and others who sell home insulation must disclose each product’s R-value and related information (e.g., thickness, coverage area per package) on package labels and manufacturers’ fact sheets. In addition, the sellers on receipts or contracts be made: (1) by professional installers, and retailers in the advertising and other promotional materials (including those on the internet) that contain a R-value, price, thickness, or energy-saving claims or compare one type of insulation to another. Finally, manufacturers and other sellers must have a “reasonable basis” for any energy-saving claims they make for their insulation products. (Bold and Italics by me above.)
This FTC letter, sent out in 2004 may have more to do with the softened advertised energy saving promises made by Insuladd and Tech Traders in 2001/2002.
In May 2007 a truly unbiased report was published on this product that very effectively supports everything I wrote above, in 2002 and refutes any such potential energy savings.
It may be viewed at:
http://www.energyideas.org/documents/Factsheets/PTR/Insuladd.pdf
This independent report is sponsored by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and the report was prepared by the Washington State University, who note that previous reports on this product, by Geoscience, were sponsored by Insuladd themselves.
Insuladd continues to ignore the comments made on EPA's (Energy Star) website and in emails directly to me, (which I readily shared with them) they continue to ignore the negative report published by Washington University and they continue to stonewall on the poor test results published by RIMA International.
RIMA International are the organization recognized by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
RIMA is responsible for ensuring that advertised "Interior Radiation Control Coating Systems (IRCCS)" on the market are tested for compliance to standards developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Their post test reports for both Hy-Tech and Insuladd paint additives leaves no doubts that both products were far from meeting the minimum thresholds established to recognize them as approved IRCCS's. Minimum rating to meet IRCCS rating is .25 with a 1.00 being the worst case. Insuladd White received a rating of .90, while Insuladd RBC received a rating of .59 which seems much better than the poor rating achieved by Insuladd White, but still falls far short of meeting nationally established ASTM requirements to classify it as an effective IRCCS.
The RBC product is also not the same product being advertised as a simple packets of paint additives.
In short, none of the products produced by either Tech Traders as "Insuladd" or Hy-Tech tested by RIMA International came even close to meeting the minimum ASTM requirements to be classified as effective Interior Radiation Control Coating Systems. In fact, in this report, only four out of eighteen products tested, met ASTM requirements with ratings of .25 or lower. See the good and the bad at: http://www.rimainternational.org/technical/ircc.html
These groups go on to claim that by coating your walls and ceiling in their ceramic base and paint, you will block the heat from escaping. They fail to note that the greatest source of heat loss from a home is not through already insulated walls and ceilings, but through doors that open and close as people come and go, through the roof vents, glass windows, around loose fitting windows or doors, from exhausting products like the fireplace chimney, furnace and/or water heater flue pipes, bathroom fans, range hoods and dryer vents. Any HVAC engineer in the country would agree that, by merely painting your (already well insulated homes) walls with this stuff, the reductions in heat loss or heat gain would be negligible.
Tech Traders (the listed manufacturer and supplier to Europe, the middle east, Africa and more recently to China) have been indignant and outraged by my review, but they refuse to try to verify their claims through an unbiased third party, or respond to RIMA International's published results. That should say it all.
Insuladd has no technical endorsements by any technically, nationally, recognized institutions or third parties who are not either being paid by them or are not profiting from the ongoing sale of the product. Public endorsements are not recognized by any national organization, as they are too easy to orchestrate or are often founded upon non-technically based experiences.
The facts speak for themselves, and I would continue to caution anyone foolish enough to purchase this product, to also use a good quality face mask when pouring and mixing "microscopic" ceramic particles.
Incidentally, this same type of product (if not identical) is being sold in the U.K. and the middle east under the brand name Thermilate and they appear to have even different sets of energy efficiency claims. No surprise, they claim even higher energy savings from these little packets of ceramic dust.
MY REVIEW FROM 2002 RESUMES HERE
This review began when I saw an advertisement from INSULADD, and I saw the magic words that many technically challenged companies use when fishing for uninformed consumers and I couldn't resist following them to Insuladd's home page. Here's their hook, in case you've missed it.
"Reduce your heating & cooling costs up to 40%!" (2001/2002 Advertisment, published on Epinions.)
Insulating house paints can save you hundreds in your utility bills. Insuladd is easy to use and easy to order! Reduce your utility bills quickly ,easily, forever!
http://www.insuladd.com/
What person, in their right mind, wouldn't want to save "up to" 40% on their utility bills? I probably passed this advertisement a hundred times in my travels on Epinions and never gave it a second thought. I just automatically thought, "Cow Dung" and moved along. The other day, the words, "UP TO" registered and I decided to have a look at their product out of a sick sense of curiosity.
It seems they sell bottles of ceramic fiber, in microscopic dust form to mix with house paints. A one quart bottle of dust per gallon of "your favorite house paint". Then by spreading this stuff all over the outside of your home, they claim, you will increase the insulation value of your home and save big on heating and cooling costs. Hence the imaginative name for their product, Insuladd. They are literally suggesting by the name that this product is adding a significant insulation factor to the walls of your home, simply by painting a thin layer of it to the outside or inside of the house.
I had to read through their technical data, test reports that support their claims and testimonials, before I could pass my judgement on their product. COW DUNG, would make a better insulation than Insuladd.
Their technical reports cite U.S. military tests. Using Insuladd on a rocket launcher and testing one with the product and one without. It seems, the one with Insuladd applied kept the cab temperature 6.1 degrees F cooler in a test chamber with heat lamps radiating down on it and in another test a whopping 2.8 degrees F cooler.
" 5. At every location monitored the cab painted with Insuladd had lower temperatures during the test. On the first day temperatures in the cab peaked at 131.7 F in the launcher with the paint additive and 137.8 F for the other launcher. On the second day the cab temperature peaked at 97.7 F and 100.5 F. End of Report"
Now, I may be no rocket scientist, but, I had to wonder how this test data related to home heating and cooling. Are there a lot of families out there trying to keep their rocket launchers cooler in the summer? How does a 2 to 4% temperature differential between two rocket launchers equate to "UP TO" a 40% reduction in your home utility bills?
The short answer is, it doesn't. Those two little words in their ad are their protection against class action suits from those who smear this stuff all over their homes and then see no real benefits from it. They can always say, we said "UP TO" we didn't say a 40% reduction was guaranteed. So, "UP TO" may be from 1% to "UP TO" 40% although the latter is extremely hard to imagine. In fact, I would venture to say, they have never seen such dramatic results, in any home heating and cooling application.
There are a couple of other examples of tests done in their area, in the state of Florida, which would tend to support that the ceramic dust, will deflect some of the radiant heat on a hot sunny day, which may, in turn reduce the heat gain to the home. So in theory, the cooling system should not need to work as hard. However, a bit of ceramic dust in your paint is not going to represent a major insulation factor on a cloudy day. This product, if it is useful at all, is only going to marginally deflect the heat from those sides of the home that are in direct view of the sun. Inside walls treated with this stuff, would have no impact on the energy consumption and it would represent virtually zero "added insulation".
Heat losses through windows, around doors and through the roof are going to remain the same, unless you want to paint your windows and shingles with this stuff? Under heating season conditions, this material may even work against the heating system, by reducing heat gain through the walls and forcing the central heating system to work harder. In some parts of the country, that could offset the savings on electric cooling bills with increased heating fuel bills.
About twenty years ago a company came out with two little magnets and a mounting bracket. Their ads claimed that homeowners who invested in their product could save "UP TO" 40% on the fuel bills by simply strapping their magnets onto the fuel line to their furnace. The cost was only $29.95 and you could install it yourself. Why do they claim "UP TO 40%"? First, they're banking on your greed for fuel savings and your gullibility. Second, they're betting you won't know the difference after a year or two of trying their product and third, you won't come after them for your $29.95 back.
The company explained that the magnetic current passing through the fuel, straightened out the carbon molecules and reduced friction for improved combustion efficiency. They further claimed the magnets would work equally well on cars, trucks, furnaces running on any type of fuel, including natural gas. COW DUNG!
Some people actually told me it worked! Until I explained that the overall temperatures for the previous years had been colder and their fuel savings were a result of a warmer winter. Regional temperatures are measured around the world by what is known as degree days, which are recorded each year and averaged out. The degree days for any given year are available from your local utility or from home heating oil companies. By comparing your fuel consumption for previous years against recorded degree days, you can come up with a fairly accurate picture of your actual fuel costs.
The magnet people disappeared for a while, only to reappear a few years later with the same product in a different package. Intended now for humidifiers and water coolers. Now, they claimed the magnetic current would reduce the calcium in water by "UP TO" 40%. I have no idea how many consumers still have those useless magnets hanging off of their fuel lines, water pipes and their humidifiers. I'll bet they wouldn't admit to it anyway.
Another sweetheart of the 1980's was the "Thermiser" and again the company's advertisements screamed, "SAVE UP TO 40% ON YOUR FUEL BILLS".For the low, low price of $350.00 (average) you would receive a stainless steel box with flue collars on either end and a baffle plate that restricted the flow of flue gas to the chimney. The baffle was sized to reduce your flue pipe by 1". They were tested by UL, the American and Canadian Gas Associations (AGA/CGA) and found not to be a danger if installed properly. No tests were done to verify the company's fuel saving claims. I conducted a test myself on a typical gas furnace. The result? COW DUNG. Absolutely no effect on the steady state efficiency and an almost immeasurable reduction on off-cycle heat loss from the furnace. (Less than one percent) Yet thousands were sold and I presume many still hang uselessly on chimney pipes around North America.
Imagine the benefits to the world energy crisis and the environment if all of these advertisements were honest and the energy savings were real. With Insuladd mixed in with your house paint, a thermiser on your chimney, and magnets strapped onto your fuel lines. You could save, "up to 120%" on your fuel bills! Which as we all know is impossible without generating free fuel in the process.
Insuladd with their "space age" dust falls into the same category for those who expect any real energy savings on their heating and cooling bills. However at only $12.95 per quart bottle of dust, can you afford not to buy a dozen bottles and coat your house in it?
I even have my doubts on their claim that it's non-toxic and safe as, microscopic ceramic fiber dust has come under a lot of medical scrutiny over the past few years and has been linked to lung disorders very much like asbestos. The University of Cincinnati has cautioned the heating industry about the handling of ceramic fiber logs that have been broken or worn and may produce fibers that can be inhaled. I somehow doubt that it's a good idea to be pouring it from a foil bag into your paint and stirring it up. (Their own website refers to it as "microscopic ceramic particles" and shows contractors whipping it into a bucket of paint without a respirator.)
If you're the kind of person who is still willing to buy some, of Insuladd's or Thermilate's ceramic dust even after after reading this, please write to me. I have some "magic coffee beans" that will produce "UP TO" 40% more coffee per cup of boiling water. I'm willing to let them go for only $19.95 a pound. This is a time limited offer, while supplies last. This product has been tested and verified by my unbiased brother, who is also the vice president of the Magic Coffee Bean Company.
Regards,
Gasman
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