Anyone in the market for VIPs?

[Roy M]

I'm about to place an order for vacuum insulated panels from Nanopore, the folks who provided them for Glacier Bay before that company bit the dust. I'm pretty stoked with the price, about $330 for 12 panels that fit together for a 6 cubic foot refrigerator. I'm going to go ahead and order some additional panels for my freezer project as well, but I'm still shy of the $1000 dollar minimum. If anyone would like to join in this order, we have thirty days to send in the combined order. They price by the panel. These are their highest quality (10 year) panels, mylar wrapped, one inch thick, 1/8" tolerance for all dimensions. Send me a PM if interested. The clock starts today.

[Roy M]

Okay, so I'm going to order my panels for the freezer, as well. That leaves a $300 hole in the minimum purchase. That's about $12 a square foot. This is a good deal if you are ready to roll with measurements. Only a couple of weeks left to join the parade.

[autumnbreeze27]

You might consider changing the name of your thread. I for one didn't even know this thread was about a bulk buy of insulation until I opened it and wondered what kind of VIPs you were taking about. I'd probably want some but I'm not that far along yet.

[witzgall]

What are the shape requirements, or restrictions???

Chris

[Roy M]

autumnbreeze27, Sorry, I have been messing about with this refrigeration/ freezer project for so long and grown oblivious that it's so esoteric. Bottom line is that insulation is the key to a successful, energy efficient system. Vacuum insulated panels (VIPs) are currently the best insulation, in a compact form, available to us at the present. It means that the compressor cycles less often to create a cold space, and that there is more useable volume inside the box to store stuff. The costs of this stuff has dropped considerably over the last couple years. Nanopore is the manufacturer of high end VIPs, ones that last for about a decade. I think that distills the subject matter.

witzgall, The shapes have to be polygons, no ell-shapes, no holes or round corners, and the material comes in 2' by 3' stock, so for larger panels, they have to place multiple pieces of the silica "cloud" inside the mylar and plastic vacuum bags. Details abound in this forum. The finished VIPs must be protected against abrasion, puncture and impact, so sandwiching the VIPs between pieces of polyurethane foam, and building strong inner and outer boxes seems to be the current standard. The VIPs are not permanent, over time they lose their vacuum through a variety of abuse. Still, they allow one to make icecubes and enjoy porkchops in paradise, so, for me, that's enough.

[Roy M]

I just called Nanopore and discovered that if I send the $1000 minimum payment with my existing order for the refrigerator panels only, they will credit me with the balance, to be used within one year. That, dramatically, improves my options. So I can finish the reefer, complete the galley mods, and then go on to doing the freezer. Whatever balance then remains, I will fabricate a state of the art fish box that I can transport on my boat, or any other that I'm fishing on. Very cool! At any rate, the joint order option is now closed. I'll post some pics when I get further along. I just ordered my cold plate from RParts, which should arrive any day. Other than the thermostat and control box, I now have all my parts arranged for, and the box only needs to be painted and toys installed.

[NTD]

Originally Posted by Roy M

I just called Nanopore and discovered that if I send the $1000 minimum payment with my existing order for the refrigerator panels only, they will credit me with the balance, to be used within one year. That, dramatically, improves my options. So I can finish the reefer, complete the galley mods, and then go on to doing the freezer. Whatever balance then remains, I will fabricate a state of the art fish box that I can transport on my boat, or any other that I'm fishing on. Very cool! At any rate, the joint order option is now closed. I'll post some pics when I get further along. I just ordered my cold plate from RParts, which should arrive any day. Other than the thermostat and control box, I now have all my parts arranged for, and the box only needs to be painted and toys installed.

Hi Roy, I was wondering how this is progressing?

[Roy M]

NTD: So far, so good. The box is complete and installed, the cold plate is now filled and ready to bolt in, and I'm waiting on the digital thermostat so I can do the final sealing of the box. I made the top separate so I could more easily install the led lighting (high, low white, and low intensity red light). The compressor and cooling/distribution module are still sitting in the compartment waiting for me to secure them, then it's time to charge the system and fill it with warm beer for testing. I just purchased the freezer cold plates (2), and will begin the construction of the freezer unit when I'm done with the reefer side. It looks beautiful, it's 6+ cubic feet in size, and looks like a molded product. Two large opening top hatches make everything accessible and easy to clean.

[Roy M]

NTD, I meant to send some pics showing the VIPs, since the third shot of the photos above has only the styrofoam template (the white layer) and the polyurethane. Here you go: The third pic is with the top removed so that I could install the cold plate easily. You can clearly see the rectangular Reflectex insulating seal that protects the insulation from the top section.