Temperature Testing Polyester Batting

Upholstery grade Polyester Batting - what can this stuff do?

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You will have read about how Paul insulated the boiler of his espresso machine using Polyester Batting. I knew of a shop selling different types of foam, in fact it's been in the same place in Addlestone high street for over 40 years. The foam is obviously used in upholstery among other things and polyester batting is often used over the foam before the covering material is placed on it. This stuff being furniture grade was obviously going to meet some pretty stringent criteria to do with fire, temperature and health & safety (or toxicity).

So in true Coffeetime style, whilst visiting Paul this evening, I thought we would see just what this stuff could do.

Fire Resistance

All I can say is pretty good, we couldn't make it burn, sure it would melt, but not burn in the presence of a naked flame …..looking good

Temperature resistance and stability

OK well we needed a test setup, to test a number of different temperatures and the stability of the product at those temperatures….ah, the electric fan oven…perfect. Backing tray, tinfoil to protect surface of tray and some pieces of polyester batting and we were set!

  • 160C - 15 mins, product was stable, deformable, but as soon as product warmed again above 100C regained original shape.
  • 170C - 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product exhibited almost no change, possibly very slightly firmer (drier)
  • 180C - 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product exhibited almost no change, no firmer (drier) than before
  • 200C - 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product exhibited almost no change, no firmer (drier) than before
  • 220C - 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product exhibited almost no change, no firmer (drier) than before
  • 230C - 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product exhibited almost no change, no firmer (drier) than before
  • we got bored at this point and turned the oven to it's maximum of 250C after 15 mins, product was stable, when removed from oven and cooled, product ehibited almost no change, no firmer (drier) than before

So a surprise, we couldn't melt this stuff in a normal household oven, I asked Paul if his oven cooks OK and he said it has no problem burning meat at 200C in the normal time and cooks perfectly normally….this upholstery grade polyester batting exceeded even my lofty expectations. Blimey, cooked for nearly 1h 45m, that's impressive and your coffee machine will not really get much above 128C inside.

Does it insulate well

Yup, can trap plenty of air and prevent it moving about, which us exactly what you want and it's easy to fit too.

The sad thing about this whole tale, is that I have been trying to persuade people on various forums to adopt this type of product for boiler insulation. I think, however, that perhaps it's just too simple for people to want to use. Certainly the USA prefers more complex and exotic products. One coffee forum even entered a group buy for some silicone sponge insulation, which I am sure must work well, but had to be more difficult to fit and very costly at approx £30 for a 100x60cm sheet….Polyester Batting of the thickness (about 20-25=mm) used by Paul L in this example cost £2.50 for a 100x100cm sheet (and he has enough left to insulate 2 more boilers!). icon_cry.gif