Looking into van insulation

Everybody has varying requirements when it comes to camper vans insulation. Maybe you want a van that can accommodate two or three people or you need special amenities like customized cooling.

Evaluate your demands carefully before you build your own camper van insulation. Will you have to load stuff into the van regularly? Is the van for daily use? Such considerations are critical. A camper van insulation is a valuable asset, especially for a person who travels a lot.

Consider your Budget

The extent of the refurbishments that you can do when building a camper van will depend on your spending power. Every alteration from the insulation to the ventilation costs money. Set aside a budget so that you can design the camper van affordably.

Readymade kits offer cost savings because the refurbishments involve less work compared to handling everything from scratch. Remember to track expenses during the project. Don’t fit a stove that will take up a lot of space in the van. Pick the fuel that suits your budget, needs, and environment.

• Conduction is where the heat moves through a substance. The van’s metal body is a very good heat conductor. Heat in one part of the body spreads to other places fast. 
• The heat from the sun gets spread from the outside to the inside of the metal van walls by conduction. You stop conduction by making a thermal barrier. In other words, you use a substance that does not conduct heat well (some foams, for instance) to block the transfer of heat.
• Radiation is where the heat is given off by a surface. You can put your hand near the inside van walls on a hot day and feel the heat being given off radiated even without touching them. 
• The sun heated up the metal and now that heat is being re-radiated inside the van. Again, anything that blocks the heat from being radiated will be a good insulator.
• Convection is where the heat is transported through the air. Once the sun’s heat gets radiated inside the van, it heats up the air in the van. Warm air is lighter, so it rises and pushes cold air down. 
• That creates air currents to move the heat around inside the van. You stop convection by filling gaps so the air can’t be transported. If you stop air from moving close to the hot metal on the inside of the van, it won’t be able to warm up from the radiated heat and then move that heat inside through convection.
• Insulation is measured by how good it is at preventing heat from getting through. The unit of measurement most people use is the R value. The R value measures how well a material stops heat from being conducted through it, but not how well it prevents convection or radiation.

How does noise move?

Sound waves hit the metal walls of your van. The walls flex. The flexing recreates the same sound on the other side. You also get some noise transferred from the road through the suspension and into the vehicle frame. That makes the wall panels flex (resonate) and create the same noise inside the van.

So to stop the sound, you need to stop the panels flexing as much as you can (“dampen” them), and then muffle any remaining sound energy they produce. The dampening is done by sticking relatively heavy butyl rubber and foil pads on any flexy metal surfaces. The muffling is done by using a layer of closed cell foam and if necessary a layer of free-floating heavyweight material such as mass loaded vinyl.

Just remember, you aren’t necessarily going for the same level of soundproofing as their products will offer. Also, some of your heat insulation products will help with noise insulation too, whereas others will not.