Reflectix DW1202504 Spiral Duct Wrap

I have a 12000 BTU Portable Air conditioner I use to cool my living room during the summer. I have a Window Kit so that the exhaust duct has proper mount. The Window Kit is sealed and very effective. The problem with portable air conditioners is the exhaust hose gets really, really hot. I have used a surface thermometer and it is more than 115 degrees on the surface of the hose at the hottest point.I tried wrapping it with towels but it just lowered it to about 96 degrees. So I decided to try this. And it is a good thing I did.After wrapping the exhaust hose with this and sealing it with Reflectix Tape, I tested the temperature. It was 84 degrees. that is 30% cooler that before with just a single layer of this. I could probably wrap it twice to even get that lower.The portable air conditioner is blowing really cold air now, and it not having a hard time anymore. A must have for Portable air conditioners. Highly recommended with the Relectix Tape.******UPDATE September 3, 2013******Since my first Portable AC was so successful, I went and got a Portable AC for all our rooms. For my 10K BTU AC units, I would only need a single layer of this. I do not do the spiral wrapping as the hoses are bent. Common sense is to cut them and then overlap.WIth my 12K AC units, I triple wrapped the hose and got 3 degrees over room temperature on the average. When I double wrapped, it was about 5-6 degrees above room temperature. This testing was done after running the Portable AC non stop for 4 hours.With my 14K Dual hose unit I use for the main living area, I triple wrapped it. Well, actually I wanted to put 4 layers but I ran out of insulation since my 14 K has 2 hoses. But boy does it make a difference when you use this wrap. The 14k would get as hot as 120 degrees at the hottest area. I got that down to 3 degrees over room temperature.Now, the way I install it is that I make sure that it is snug with the hose. The only way to do this since the hose bends during installation is to install and mount the hoses first, then proceed to wrap the hoses. I make sure that is wrapped tight with the hose.A must have is the Relectix Insulation Tape. I use a lot of that during the install to make sure that it is really snug. I use it to seal the overlap between each joining of the wrap. I also use it to do a spiral taping of the entire hose and I apply a lot of pressure so it squeezes the wrap against the hose. There is absolutely no play anymore after I am done. The only way to reposition the hose or the portable AC for that matter is to redo the insulation. So I make sure I really want it in that location before I start insulating the hose.I always wait a day or 2 so that I can make up my mind as to the final location.Anyway, my electric bill 3 years ago with central AC was $180 my bill this month was $89. My portable AC units are far more efficient than my Central AC. My Central AC eats about 4.5 KWH. The portable AC units use only 1 KWH on the average. I only turn on the rooms that are being used which is what saves me so much money. And we can set the temperature to each room individually.This wrap is still a must have for any Portable AC install.

I used the Reflectix sprial duct insulation and foil tape together so I'm going to review them together. Firstly, I was more than happy with both of these products. I'm not a handy-type person and this was my first experience insulating a duct. The results were better than I expected. The instructions were short and to the point but it would have been nice to have more information on how to handle bends which I'm sure is a very common requirement. The straight parts of the duct were super easy, just cut and tape using several inches of overlap. My duct has one 90-degree bend and that gave me a bit of trouble. The instructions say "If necessary, trim width of product to accomodate bends...". In my inexperience, I took that to mean cut thinner strips and use more of them. That didn't work for me. What I finally ended up doing was cutting the insulation into shapes that would fit when wrapped around the bend. This involved leaving it wide in the middle and then cutting curved sections to narrow the ends so that they fit snugly when taped into place. It seems obvious now but I didn't know! Once I had the right idea, it was easy to do because the insulation cuts with a pair of ordinary scissors. It's very easy to work with.I love the Reflectix foil tape. It works great and it covered up most of my mistakes. I probably used more than needed but I really like the way it holds everything together and the way it looks. One thing I learned when working with the tape is an easy way to peel the foil from the paper backing. Bend a small corner towards the paper-side (so that paper touches paper) and back-again twice. This will cause the paper to slightly separate from the foil at the edge of the fold line to make it easier to get started.Lastly, I did not realize how much heat the uninsulated duct had been throwing off. The temperature in the room is much more stable now and the AC is switching on less often.I wish I had another exposed duct because I want to do it again!