Summer heat fix for $0.99: Space Blanket

If you had posted asking for help, I immediately would have recommended the collapsible silver reflectors they sell for car windshields in the summer.

But your solution is both cheaper and more easily customized. Good job OP.

As an added bonus, the mylar will block transmissions from the CIA's MKULTRA mind control initiation satellites!

>>1030421
> If you had posted asking for help, I immediately would have recommended the collapsible silver reflectors they sell for car windshields in the summer.
That actually entered my mind since I have one of those reflectors for my car. That's actually what got me thinking about finding silvery tints for windows. Like I said, those are a great option but these titanium/aluminum films are expensive (I'm guessing they're around $7-10/sq foot).

> But your solution is both cheaper and more easily customized. Good job OP.
ty. this is the greatest hack I ever came up with.

> As an added bonus, the mylar will block transmissions from the CIA's MKULTRA mind control initiation satellites!
kek'd! they're also great at stopping laser listening devices.

There seem to be blinds with a heat reduction property but they cost ten times as much as OP's solution. Next step is to make a dyi roller I guess.

Kudos to op. Here's some drive-by science to go with it.

This is called a radiant barrier (it's NOT insulation, although some people call it that) and it's well known in construction. They make products just for this purpose (bubble wrap foil, attic foil, etc). However, it doesn't work the way people think.

It would more accurately be called a Low-Emission barrier. It doesn't reflect any noticeable heat- it still gets quite hot, which you can test with an infrared thermometer. The magic happens because it does not emit most of that heat through radiation. So even though it gets rather hot, that heat doesn't keep going.

This means that: 1. The shiny side should face you, not the sun. This applies to car window covers as well. 2. Radiant barriers must have an air gap between them and the insulated space. If they are fastened directly to something (eg, a duct) then the heat will travel right through it via conduction, making them useless. 3. Reflection has NOTHING to do how it works.

Carry on.

>>1030427
Walmart sells them. I think they cost around $20/blind and I needed 2x per window since my windows are 49" and these blinds cover 45" or so. And I doubt they work as well since the sunlight still passes through your window so heat will accumulate on them for sure.

When you attach space blanket's thin mylar sheet to the back of the window, you've basically created a mirror so almost all of the sunlight is reflected away from your room.

One question that I still have is about the best way to attach this mylar film to the window. Like I said, I use soapy water but I've noticed that after few days, the intense heat of the sun boils away the moisture that holds the mylar and I need to respray the corners.

Maybe someone who attaches tints could give us a better formula for attaching the film to the window... something that's non permanent of course. Would Windex/ammonia hold it better? I was afraid that it might melt the thin film so I opted for soapy water...

The normal cheapo way is just to use cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil. As aluminum primarily reflects infra red.

>>1030431
Frame holding the reflective sheet seems like a way to go to me. Then you have to attach the frame to the window so probably some detachable handles on the window will be needed.

>>1030435
>cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil
that sounds like a pain in the ass to attach. i can't even think of a good way to keep cardboard sheets upright inside of your window. not to mention that your windows will look like shit from the inside and you'll also need to have lights on at all times. mylar film is semi-transparent.

>>1030437
>Frame holding the reflective sheet seems like a way to go to me.

Way too much work. It's so much easier to just attach it to the window directly using the surface tension of some liquid. And when the summer's over, you can remove them in 10 seconds and trash them and just buy a new space blanket next year.

>>1030441

not op but attach them to some cardboard and string them over your windows and bam when summer is over store them and re-use

so the hat i made out of aluminium will only work if the shinyside faces my head and the dull side on the outside?

>>1030508
how shiny is your head?

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>>1030412
>Anyway, my first post on /diy/..
Good job, faggot! I for one cheer for you and your accomplishment in thermal management.

I happen to have a skylight in my studio apartment, which faces almost DEAD true south, AND has an intercept angle that makes it IDEAL for solar collection mid summer.

I have no idea how awful this beast could be, as I did, basically, what you did -- took a Al-Mylar blanket and tacked it to the frame. Looks quite ghetto, but only the alphabets derp helicopters can see it, and fuck the police, they can look at the ugly Al blanket if they want.

But yes, just rough back of envelope analysis suggests I'd be enjoying heat stroke without this mod to that skylight.

700W/m^2.

That's AVERAGE insolation. Mind you, this includes areas like Antarctica, k?

Reality is, most people will see a summery day delivering over 1 kW/m^2, 1.2 to 1.5 isn't uncommon.

This is a BRUTAL amount of power for a HVAC system to suffer.

Every m^2 of sunlight is adding another TWO people to your orgy at MINIMUM.

A person fucking is good for between 150 and 400 watts, depends on how vigorous they are about it.

Just think of all those sweaty people writhing about your floor as you look at that insolation blasting thru your windows.

Tl;dR: Gud jib shaking eat off, OP

Look into custom vacuum insulation panels, they're not exactly cheap but they're not particularly expensive either. A 10mm panel affixed to the window with velcro will keep the heat out beautifully and is 5-10 times more insulating than the equivalent thickness of expanded polystyrene.

I'd do this if I didn't have an HOA that cared about stuff like that.

Also, be careful about putting them up between your blinds and the window. My jackass friend did so and his cheap plastic blinds melted.

>>1030529
>A person fucking is good for between 150 and 400 watts, depends on how vigorous they are about it.
sauce

>>1030412
Yep, I did the same for the hard winters.

Had very leaky windows. Just taped these over the whole thing and boom one cheap space heater could handle my bed room, convection dropped a lot. Put a few more all around the walls with some gaps to minimize conduction and by opening and closing interior doors I could comfortably regulate the whole apartment off of that cheap space heater.

But then the hot summer rolled around and I left them up, cause it blocked the heat and I like the dark.

Apartment look like some bad sci-fi set, but it was so much more comfortable to live in, also used less lighting given how shiny it all was.

One needs to understand what mechanics are being use to optimize it, but these things work very well for lots of stuff.

Still a tad worried about the metallic foil fire they warn about, but can't see how they could ignite given my setup. I would think if the hot car didn't do it then I should be good long as I don't put candles to them.

>>1030644
Are HOAS really that common? I've never seen one in maine. I've never looked for housing outside of this state but it seems like something most people would actively avoid.

>>1030438
>that sounds like a pain in the ass to attach
????
Don't you have adhesive tape, hot glue, or a long stick to hold up a cardboard?

>>1030430
So when I wrap my food in foil to cook it, should the shiny side be on the inside or the outside?

>>1030775
Ok good I'm not the only one who was confused by that

>>1030810
And now there's 3 anons waiting to find out if they've been cooking food wrong their entire lives.
/diy/
what won't it correct us on?
I once saw an argument about screws.

>>1030515
How much polishing should I give my head?

>>1030730
Not add common as they used to be. And that's a good thing.

>>1030814
I like mine. keeps niggers like you out.

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>>1030775
Aluminized Mylar has a thin aluminum coating on one side only, aluminum foil is aluminum (on both sides) the two are different.

But honistly I don't know what the fuck that guy is on about. I am 100% certain that aluminized Mylar reflects heat back out not whatever shit he is on about.

Also aluminum foil works in windows too, its better than the space blankets if you want total darkness because your a vampire like me.

>>1030730
I walked away from buying a house because I found out, at the closing table, that it had a HOA.

A bunch of people were pissed, myself included.

OP, would you mind posting photos?

I am extremely interested in this idea, because the temps in my apartment are fucking all over the place it's due to the huge ass windows I have.

>>1030730
Here in Florida, we're speckled with them. I work at a place where most of our repair guys make between 20-30$ an hour, and almost all of them own homes with HOAs. Probably 15/20. I just dont get it, because most of them still have to do their own yard work.

>>1030412
Related but not economical for OP.A rancher i know in Texas built a vac system that fills his window casings with foam pellets.Seems to work well.

>>1030775
It actually doesn't matter. The only difference is that one side was rolled and the other wasn't. This is what makes one side shiny, it's just the manufacturing process.

http://www.reynoldskitchens.com/media/10246730/reynolds_wrap_faq.pdf

>>1030852
One thing to look into is the HOA itself.

The developer of the division I lived in was essentially required to put an HOA in place because of legal systems.

Multiple reasons existed.
>We were outside the city limits
>10% of the land in the subdivision is common spaces, i.e. parks and long swaths between some rows of properties acting as walking paths and shit
>and common infrastructure like light poles, pool, pool house, playground equipment, signage etc.

The HOA was handed from the developer when it was over 90% full with $120k in funds, paid use of an HOA lawyer for a period, and a blank slate.

Our HOA exists only to establish yearly payment to support installed infrastructure that isnt supported by county funds. And is written to expire the next calendar month after the city annexes us. (Which it probably wont do for at least another 10-15 years despite the city line coming up right to our doorstep

To the dissapointment of the developer the majority of householders voted against every suggested appearence clause from lawn maintenance, acceptable paint colors, working on vehicles in driveways, even including a clause that prohibited keeping backyard chickens.

I've got friends in the next developement over where the HOA came with appearence clauses and all that and the vitriol between his neighbors is disgusting.

Last year we voted on what to do with a 15k excess that was accumulating around in our funds for the last five years. Some four year old blurted out "fireworks!" It passed unanimously and we did a big picknick potluck and hired some fireworks.

The next meeting we voted to pass a measure to include funds for a party every year and it passed with only one dissenting house.

Some HOAs are aweful, truly aweful experiences for homeowners, some are ok.

I JUST DID WHAT OP DID!

And it fucking works! Picked up space blanket, cut it up with a razor blade, sprayed it on with some water&soap and it works! That space blanket plastic is very delicate so you have to be careful how you handle it but once its on the window, it's no problem.

Genius! Thanks!

>>1030730
They're becoming increasingly popular in Dallas. Two different kinds, the first being voluntary ones that provide security and take care of sidewalks and common use areas as a community.
The second being forced HOAs, dumbasses that spend more money monitoring what each person is doing than maintaining the common areas.
I JUST moved out of a nazi HOA area, I had a house that was literally the nicest, largest lot and newest house in this entire place, but if I had a single weed in my yard, fucking notice in the mail saying if I don't have it corrected in 2 weeks, I'll have a fine. I took care of everything, but the kicker is you don't actually receive the letter in the mail until after your 2 week period was over. If you don't pay the fine and correct the action in a week after the 2 week period, you get a bigger fine, and then after another week you get the fines + fees/interest/whatever on your house as a lien. The board was 60% controlled by the management company and builders, with a 20 year contract. Loved the house, neighbors left me alone, but I got like 6 warnings for stupid lawn shit when my neighbors looked like shit.
Tipping point was when I got a $50 fine for not seeking prior approval and filing some paperwork for restaining the parts of my fence that had been faded from sprinklers. I paid my fine and we put the house on the market a week later.
Sold to a fucking foreign investor that said he was going to rent it out per bedroom, fuck that neighborhood.

>>1030877
>Sold to a fucking foreign investor that said he was going to rent it out per bedroom, fuck that neighborhood.

My HOA loves to sue then foreclose on property owners like that
They read and make each new homeowner initial ever rule, all done on camera, no coming back later and claiming you didn't know
City requires HOA's for all new developments
10 year positions on the board, 9 members, 1 for every 100 homes, you can be elected and serve only once, 1 new member per year
2 rear yard inspections per year, 2 open garage inspections a year, all homes have 3 car garages, 6 car driveways, garage must be kept available for 2 cars minimum, no garage conversions
Single family homes only, no rental properties period
HOA requires 20% down payment if you buy in our "Village"
No street parking without permit, ever, any car on the street after sunset will be towed and held 72 hours
The rule book is 125 pages and looks like a novel, but we're have the safest neighborhood in the city and people get offers to buy even when not selling
Knew what i was getting into, did it anyway, wife is really happy

>>1030812
>screws
You mean you missed the thread on how to poo and wipe properly?

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>>1030651
The data, honest to fuck I'm not sure where I gleaned it-- it MIGHT have been the wikipedia, so yeah. Just that I recall 150W @ rest and up to 500 W for serious work, not fucking per say but climbing ladders and such.

It makes sense really; think of one newton = a joule. And a j/s = a w.

So, if a guy weighs 250 kg, and is riding around on h s mobility scooter with his belly saddled up to the handle bar, then--- LORDY! HE MOVES!

HE STANDS!

HE WALKS!

What a sight, what a fright!

250 kg momentarily is balancing on ONE of his spindly legs.

That's about 9.8 m/s/s of force from earth's gravity well busting his knees via his 250 kg mass, Fug, war muh calculators? Ahh, dare!

2.45 Kj of energy is expended per his waddling about, so if he does it for an hour, that's 2.45 kWh of power his vigorous waddling has expended.

Now, cleanse your mind of this vile image of the waddling 2+ kW fat man leaving his mobility scooter.

Consider fucking a girl's brains out. You're taking her in a wall-mounted-cradle position, due to your extreme degeneracy.

You are bracing her against a wall, sort of, while balancing her on your dick and pelvis as you rapidly perform squats and an odd lift to get her bouncing, hen you resonate with the momentum much like bouncing a sledge hammer.

Shit is fun, makes a girl go nuts too.

But hoe lee sheet, math?

Say she's a 50 kg little thing, that's 9.8m/s/s * 50 kg = 490J for every second you're fucking her brains out.

Actually more than that, as you're statically lifting your own body-- so the actual power would be much higher. Plus there's the breathing both of you are doing-- metabolism otherwise, you're basically two torches lit off!

So, per this back-of-envelope analysis, I was WRONG!! Oh, how wrong I was!

Fascinating, or has science gone too far?

>>1030938
D-don't stop

>>1030817
Not really.

>>1030898
Yeah. But really, most people do it wrong.

>>1030892
Jesus fuck. That sounds like the fucking worst thing ever.

Also don't assume that you are in a safe neighbourhood. It's only a matter of time before section 8 housing makes its way to you. And good luck holding any section 8 tenants to HOA clauses kek.

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>>1030892

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>>1030430

Uh...I don't know where you got your info, but it's completely wrong in this case.

Sunlight has essentially all (>99%) of its energy between 250nm and 2500nm on the EM spectrum. Aluminum reflects the vast majority of radiation that band. A radiant barrier does, in fact, simply reflect most of the energy hitting it.

The most obvious indicator of the truth of this is the fact that aluminum is white (one of the whitest metals, in fact). If it absorbed most of the radiation that hit it, it would be dark grey or black, as...you know...that's WHY things are dark in appearance. (Not that this is not necessarily true for all cases, as a material can be highly reflective in the visible spectrum, yet highly absorptive to bands in the infrared or ultraviolet spectrums.)

Additionally, calling something a "radiant barrier" and saying it doesn't work by reflecting energy is oxymoronic, as, by definition, radiant barriers are insulation that reflect thermal radiation. "Low-emissivity barrier" is just another term for this.

Will it keep those fucking pokemen out?

>>1030412
If you want to increase the heat rejection even more you can put cardboard (the kind with air pockets inside it) on the back of the Mylar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V93Gh3Q2Ro

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>>1030430
>which you can test with an infrared thermometer

Challenge accepted.

Here's a pic from my FLIR cam of body heat from my hand being reflected by aluminum foil.

As you can see a large percentage of the radiant heat is reflected. While it will heat up if left in the sun it will heat much slower than a less reflective surface.

FLIR cameras work on the same principle as IR thermometers, essentially each pixel is an IR thermometer. IR thermometers pick up low-IR radiation which is the part of the EM spectrum that makes up the majority of the EM radiation emitted by objects at sub 500K temperatures. While this is usually used to determine the temperature of a surface, objects which are highly reflective will not give an accurate reading. This is because surfaces that reflect visible light tend to also reflect IR radiation to a greater or lesser extent. If you look at a surface that is reflecting IR radiation with a FLIR cam (or IR thermometer) you will be reading the (approximate) temperature of the reflected object, not the mirror.

TL;DR - it sees heat rays, shiny things reflect heat rays so it can't read their actual temperature.

>called a radiant barrier

It would be a radiant barrier if OP had set it up as one, it would be more effective if he did (although then it wouldn't let any light through), but in it's current configuration it is a reflective barrier like solar tints on a car window.

>>1032901
And yes, I know I the camera isn't calibrated, but this illustrates the point and I couldn't be bothered to wait for it warm up.

>>1032901
BTFO

>>1030412
post pix.

>>1030412
So you now have a window that you can't see out of, and blinds you neighbors. Genious.

>>1033596
Windows you can see out of are so overrated.

>>1030865
Damn that's an HOA done right.

>>1030412
You can attach these to the back of cheap window blinds so that the blanket actually goes up and down with the blinds. It looks like shit but it works pretty good

>>1030644
>>1030730
>>1030814
>>1030817
>>1030852
>>1030859
>>1030865
>>1030877
>>1030892
>>1032826
>>1035107


I have trouble believing this is true...? So some fucker comes and tells you what do in your on yard/garden/FUKKEN GARAGE!

Please tell me you are joking! If some dick would try something like this over here I'd find it hilarious! And, being a pacifist, I'd insult them, with a merry hearth.

But surely, you ARE joking, right?

>>1035491

This was more or less my reaction when I discovered HOAs were a thing.

I could appreciate something like "uh, yeah, you can't just leave half your house burnt down like that", but most of it just sounds like complete insanity.

>>1035494
Strata committees can be just as bad. Especially when they insist that only they are allowed to fix something on or in your apartment and then never fix it.

>>1030430
It's absolutely amazing how little people know about thermal blankets.

The guy in OPs pic is doing it right however. Thermal blankets won't work if your body is making contact with the blanket/ground. You have to squat to make minimal contact with the ground to not lose heat.

>>1035491
>Dallas here
Nope. I mean you know what you're getting into before you buy for the most part. But I didn't know how fast we'd get tired of it in under a year.
House was awesome and a great price.

anyone have suggestions for the opposite of OP? My basement studio has leaky old single pane windows from the 70s, I usually put bubble wrap up in the winter to insulate, but wondering if anything better

>>1035536
>It's absolutely amazing how little people know about thermal blankets.
Why would everyone know about something that 99.99% of people would never use or need? Why are you surprised by this?

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Buddy of mine moved into a nazi HOA neighborhood unwittingly. Lawn fines, garage inspections, everything. One of the HOA members even got a drone to inspect people's backyards when they started padlocking the fences to 'deter' thieves (read: keep them from creeping in their backyards and fining them for their kids leaving their bikes out and such). The whole thing came to a head when a family petitioned the HOA to allow them to fence in their front yard to prevent their autistic kid from running out in traffic, and didn't anything from them for months. When they went ahead and put the fence in, the HOA fined them after two days, sent a crew to remove it and forwarded them the bill, and the kid got hit a couple days after. A week later the communal mailbox blew up, and the HOA refused to replace it, instead demanding that everyone foot a part of the bill to replace it. The five lawyers that were in the neighborhood got pissed because of both of those things and ended up getting the whole HOA dismantled. Since there's no HOA servicing the square of concrete where the mailbox sits, they also pressured the Postmaster in the area to allow everyone to have their own mailbox. Pic related, the blown up mailbox.

>>1035927
>garage inspections
What the fuck.

>>1035937
Yeah, they didn't want people converting the garage/hoarding crap in it.

>>1030863
DOIN IT RITE
>>1030892
Doing it every way wrong

>>1035927
Also doing it rite
Gotta stick it to the man, anon.

>>1030412

where do you find them for $0.99? the cheapest one I could find was $5 (other shops had them for almost $7). I could buy them online but then I am still paying the same money in shipping. thank goodness I only had to cover one window, I taped mine on instead of using the water spray and they have been good for over a year now.

also in the winter they keep your heat in (and the cold air out), I leave them on year round.

>>1035967
>where do you find them for $0.99?
>>1030412

>Went to a dollar store and picked two of them for $2

dollar store - it's not like you can depend on your local dollar store to have them

>>1035927
So some wise person once said that "You need to live so that you don't need to talk about the weather with your neigbours". It seems like I can do that, but some surprisingly restricted parts of the world can't.

Anyway, on to the blankets, nice one m8!