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Fire Testing For Safest Foam Board Insulation



Fire Testing For Safest Foam Board Insulation
This is a continuation of my Dometic Fridge, Amish Built, Cooling Unit Replacement Topic. That project is finished and working awesome but! The question of Flammability of Foam Board Insulation Came Up. I decided to put my new RMAX by SIKA to the test against Pink, Blue, and the foam panel S&S included in the original build. I think this video will settle any argument as to which is the safest type foam board to use in a RV, TC, or Your Home. Enjoy!
8 REPLIES 8

Hemi_Joel
Explorer
Explorer
Good stuff, Jeff. Thanks for posting this and the fridge improvements.
2018 Eagle Cap 1163 triple slide, 400W solar, MPPT, on a 93 Dodge D350 Cummins, DTT 89 torque converter, big turbo, 3 extra main leafs, Rancho 9000s rear, Monroe gas magnums front, upper overloads removed, home made stableloads, bags.

Buzzcut1 wrote:
if I was planning on sealing gaps in areas where I was worried about fire I would use a fire resistant expanding foam that is certified for just that purpose. There are many of them commercially available with ASTM certification


I've used the Great Stuff Orange fire seal foam for a lot of penetrations for plumbing and electrical, also for framing fire blocking. Beware though, the fire block foam expands a lot and can have expansive force behind it that could be tricky to control in the thin wall space of truck camper walls.

Buzzcut1
Nomad II
Nomad II
if I was planning on sealing gaps in areas where I was worried about fire I would use a fire resistant expanding foam that is certified for just that purpose. There are many of them commercially available with ASTM certification
2011 F350 6.7L Diesel 4x4 CrewCab longbed Dually, 2019 Lance 1062, Torqlift Talons, Fast Guns, upper and lower Stable Loads, Super Hitch, 48" Super Truss, Airlift loadlifter 5000 extreme airbags

Sjm9911
Explorer
Explorer
Oh, and have a working smoke and co detector in the camper.
2012 kz spree 220 ks
2020 Silverado 2500
Equalizer ( because i have it)
Formerly a pup owner.

Sjm9911
Explorer
Explorer
Everything burns or melts when it reaches a certain temp. You could use rotten cotton, rockwool or whatever its called by you for an insulation thats flame retardant to about 1000 degrees.
2012 kz spree 220 ks
2020 Silverado 2500
Equalizer ( because i have it)
Formerly a pup owner.

jimh425 wrote:
Considering there are lots of items in an RV that burn much easier would it even matter if the foam was more fire resistant or not?


In this case, the insulation is next to a source of combustion. The fridge chimney is rated as needing 0 clearance. The chimney gets much hotter than touch. The old insulation paper was well browned. It is evident wherever a point of combustion occurs, the RMAX may self extinguish which is very advantageous.

Kayteg1
Explorer
Explorer
With small space fire, few extra seconds for escape can be matter of life of death.

jimh406
Explorer III
Explorer III
Considering there are lots of items in an RV that burn much easier would it even matter if the foam was more fire resistant or not?

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member