Radiant barrier under fridge- yikes!
As you can imagine I was overjoyed when I found out that the IFR tubing in my new home was installed under my refrigerator, even after I told the plumber where the fridge was going to be located. (It was obvious anyway since I had the back wall of the kitchen bumped back a few inches to allow a regular fridge to be set flush with the front of the counters.)
Now I have ramped the fridge up about 3/4″ on wooden boards and have that much space to place some type of insulation. The fridge has a bottom coil. The floor is a textured tile over 1 1/2″ of concrete. I was thinking of placing aluminum foil shiny side face down on the floor with some foam insulation on top of it. The texture of the tile should provide some air space under the foil, or maybe I could use chicken wire or something as a spacer?
Any improvements or suggestions as to any other effective way to thwart the radiant heat from turning my efficient fridge into an energy hog?
Thanks in advance – Brian.
Replies
Your fridge ought to have good air circulation under and behind it, so it should be about 70F air whether the floor is RFH or not. It would be a touch higher than if the coils weren't laid there, but I think most plumber would tale note of a fridge location only if you called out for a ice-maker water line.
If this is going to keep you up at nights, you could out 1" or 2" of blueboard, top by 3/4 CDX and faced with whatever veneered plywood forms the kick for the cabinets.
But it would not keep me up nights. Refrigerators are already such a thermodynamic oddity. A warmish box (butter tray), inside a cold box (fridge) inside a warm box (the house) inside of the cold (outdoors). Convenient, sure, but what an energy suck. Some people keep their fish in a feezer on the porch - that way they only need to plug it in a few months of the year.
Brian,
Like David, I'd not worry about it.
If you're simply looking for something to slide into the existing gap provided by your 3/4" pieces of wood, use a piece of foil-faced polyisocyanate insulation. The insulation comes with foil on both sides and an R-value of 7.2 per inch. Actually, under the new rating, I think it's 6.0 per inch.
i worked for a customer once who spec'ed a cabinet under fridge, to raise fridge for more comfortable access to lower part of fridge. worked out great, several people loved it, and now fairly commonly raise it from 12"-18". i also usually raise washer and dryer 6"-8'. its a simple thing that some people really love by making the space they use more often easier to access. it also solves your worries of insulating under fridge.