Mixed Climate area Reduces Electric Bill by 25% with AtticFoil™!
Location: North Carolina, USA
Problem: Neighbors in new homes noticed HVAC units ran constantly which led to high electric bills.
Solution: AtticFoil™ Radiant Barrier was installed on the bottom of the rafters (to keep HVAC equipment cooler) and over the insulation to stop convective looping in winter.
Results/Update: Immediately following the installation, the A/C turned on less and a 25% reduction in the electric bill was seen after the first month.
In their own words:
Myself and two neighbors ordered about 12000 sq ft of the thick version of the foil from AtticFoil. We have under roof and floor attic (insulated) area of about 3000 sq ft each. I did considerable comparison between various online foil vendors as well as the insulation paint vendors. I rejected the paint vendor as I was not convinced about the health issues of putting the paint in the attic. Comparing the samples that I obtained from multiple vendors, decided that the quality offered by AtticFoil was the best – in terms of the sturdiness and dual layers. The 26″ width was a deal maker as no-one offered that in the industry. I did not want to use the 4 ft wide foil as that would span two joists and I would have to tear the whole thing up in case of any issue with my roof. The installer I found was just thrilled [about the 26″ wide rolls] as that made his job easy.
The entire installation for about 3000 sq ft of my attic was done in about 3 hours. Now to the benefit. This is the real positive so far in what I have observed. Without the foil, I used to measure the attic temperature at about 125 degrees when the outside temp was 90 degrees. I could not stand in the attic for more than 5 min in that heat. Now, I see that the temperature is about 103 degrees. Also, it takes a lot less to cool the home when my programmable thermostat kicks in to reduce the home temperature at the set time. Also, I don’t hear the A/C cranking that often. In the last month, I have observed about a 25% reduction of my electric bill.
I have also put the foil on the attic floor with the explicit expectation that it will help me conserve the heat in winter. As a side project, I am going to install a temperature sensor in my attic and record hourly temperature over the wifi network from my attic. To top it off the installer was really impressed with the quality of the material and again was very pleased with the width of the foil.
Finally, the folks at AtticFoil.com were very easy to deal with. They were very patient with answering all my questions – even the competitive material questions I had about the thinner foil, wider foil and the paint insulation.
