Insulating a GARN

[Scotty2]

Do you normally spray foam the sides? or is it better to use some sort of removable insulation, such as Perlite, fiberglass or?
How about leaving the tank un-insulated, but in a well insulated (small) room? (just how warm would that room get?
Regards, Scotty

 

[eauzonedan]

Think leaving a Garn in-insulated is a bad idea. That huge mass of steel at 120 to 190 degeees would be one hell of a radiator.
I built a double steel stud wall around mine (single in front) with the studs offset to minimize the heat path thru the studs. One side of the stud worked as a c channel and did a great job of holding Roxel batts. I found a cool crimp tool at Menards and it did a slick job of fastening the studs to top and bottom tracks and corners. My first use of steel studs and it was easy and a lot more stable than I envisioned. Dan

 

[heaterman]

The insulated room would reach whatever temperature the Garn is at. Not a good plan.

If you go to our website you can see an insulation kit that we sell for Garns. You can also fab up pretty much the same thing if you have a source for industrial grade boiler insulation and some time to fit things up.
Many people will simply build a "box" around the Garn and fill it with loose fill fiberglass insulation (NEVER cellulose)
This is simple to do but can create a headache regarding access to the Garn if needed down the road and makes it tough to keep an eye on what's going on in the box.

I had a customer in Ohio that rusted his Garn through from the outside in due to a leaking manhole cover gasket. It took over a decade and during that time he never once looked at the top of the unit, which is another matter entirely but.....

The gasket leaked allowing steam to escape into the insulation which became saturated on top and eventually perforated the Garn from the outside. Routine maintenance would have caught this but I'm just saying if you bury the Garn in insulation you have to keep in mind you WILL need to access the unit through whatever you put around it.

(broken link removed)

 

[mike van]

I just put R30 fiberglass batts around & on top of mine - Not very pretty, but it's done the job for 2 winters now. It's on my list of things to re-do............funny, that list never shrinks.

 

[maple1]

I just put R30 fiberglass batts around & on top of mine - Not very pretty, but it's done the job for 2 winters now. It's on my list of things to re-do............funny, that list never shrinks.

Huh yeah, no kidding. Don't have a Garn but mine still isn't finished after 3 seasons. I've got 3 bundles of Roxul board down there to put up that will take it closer, but still won't have the finished covering on it. Next year maybe?