Insulated my 100L Pot (Productive evening)

[DC]

Hi all, After recently buying a 100L custom built boiler from MrLard and upgrading my brewing stand I called into my local Tesco to collect a silver backed camping mat to insulate my new boiler. I tried to make a template for insulating the boiler using corrugated cardboard but it didn't work very well, but I decided to crack on with the camping mat and try my best to insulate it Decided to remove the 2 elements from the boiler to aid in the fitting of the insulation

Cardboard template attempt front


Back


Side view of handle 1


Side view of handle 2


Holes cut for Elements


Front view


Had enough camping mat left over to make an insulated base for the boiler to sit on


All done front


All done back


And I scored for this from a neighbour on my way home, it will go great with the other 2 leather and chrome bar stools I have already




So a productive evening all round

Cheers DC

[killer]

Nice work.

I have 2 of those bad boys to insulate. Will be buying Decathlon mats and using cheap ass twine.
Maybe I'll steal a neighbours bar stool too

[DC]

Hi killer, it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be insulating the boiler, and the bar stool was destined for the local tip so I recycled it I've a reputation for being careful with my money (tight) and can't resist getting something for nothing, but I see it as helping save the environment and saving stuff going to landfill

Cheers DC

[Belter]

I don't know the answer to my question but...

Should the shiny side not be on the inside? Reflecting the heat back in?

[DC]

Hi Belter, Your right the silver side should be on the inside in theory to reflect the heat like you said like putting silver insulation behind radiators. But as I wanted to keep the shiny effect I put the silver on the outside. It will provide insulation but I am unsure how much difference it will make between the silver and non silver side. But some insulation is better than no insulation.

Cheers DC

[jmc]

Hi Belter, Your right the silver side should be on the inside in theory to reflect the heat like you said like putting silver insulation behind radiators. But as I wanted to keep the shiny effect I put the silver on the outside. It will provide insulation but I am unsure how much difference it will make between the silver and non silver side. But some insulation is better than no insulation.

Cheers DC

Silver side much easier to wipe / clean too.

Looking good

[Fil]

you could always wrap a £shop space blanket and the cardboard template round under the pretty+practical cover to get even better insulation i do like my £shop mylar sheets me

Much cleaner finish than the £shop groundmats which are easy to tear

[pssmith]

Looks good, much better than my last attempt.

[DC]

Hi all, after a few of you guys pointed out that the silver side of the camping mat should be on the inside facing the pot I decided to cover the blue side of the camping mat with silver foil. I just happened to have a spare space blanket and some double sided tape laying around so I set about covering the blue side last night, I must admit it was harder to cover the inside with the silver foil than it was cutting the camping mat to fit to boiler initially. As you can see from the picture below it’s far from perfect but it’s going to be on the inside so it won’t be seen. I Can’t wait for Saturday to try the boiler out for the first time, I will of course post the brew day to say how the boiler performs.

Inside covered with a space blanket


Cheers DC

[TonySan]

I was going to try the same method with my boiler, but wasn't sure whether the camping mat would melt with 1.5 hours at 100oC. Did it survive ?

[Fil]

I was going to try the same method with my boiler, but wasn't sure whether the camping mat would melt with 1.5 hours at 100oC. Did it survive ?

camping mats even cheapo easy tear £shop jobs are fine for cladding electric boilers without any melting worries.

[Andy]

I did a double layer on my boiler. Layer 1 a silver backed camping mat as per above, with silver side facing boiler skin. Layer 2, ali foil covered bubble sheet with shiny side facing out

[DC]

Hi TonySan, No problems with the camping mats no melting issues at all.

Cheers DC