crisp packets

HI, I've just lilned the north side and roof of my greenhouse with 1" thick polystyrene tiles, (surplus packing from work). I really wanted then to put that shiny stuff on the polystyrene tiles (to reflect the light). When I saw the price of 'mylar' I gulped and looked around, I am now collecting all the empty crisp bags I can find (suprise, they are lined in mylar) it's amazing how few you actually need and how many peope throw away. I am now trying to think of any other uses for my mylar tiles.
Any ideas welcome
cheers

sally_in_wales

How clever! I can imagine you could use the foam and the mylar to make little reflectors to put behind plants in the windowsill to stop them going lopsided towards the light too

Did you also know you can laminate crisp packets together using an iron and a sheet of greaseproof paper? Might help you come up with other ways to use crisp packets if you stick em together first? Not sure if its all type of crisp packet though.

Nick

Ask at your local pub. They'll probably be glad to give you about 30,000,000.

Jamanda

For some strange reason I thought you were in Italy. Embarassed

Let us know if you want them collecting.

sally_in_wales

oh, another idea, when we were kids, mum bought this foil backed foam sheeting that you put down the back of radiators on the outside wall of the house so the heat got bounced back into the room not soak into the walls (at least, that was the theory), would your foam and mylar concoction work for that?

jamsam

ive made waste paper bins with crisp packets and bubble wrap!!, oh and work files for school.

you iron the crisp packets between two layers of bubble wrap ( under grease proof of course) and then join it all up like a christmas parcel, only leaving one end open. its great for the kids roomas and when they get too battered, you just recycle it and make a new one!

Im planning on turning this into a cub project soon!

Jamanda

jamsam wrote:

Any chance of taking some photos for an article on that Jamsam?

jamsam

yep..im off to the scrap store on saturday for some funky silver bubble wrap, i will do some running pictures and do the instructions for you!

the school work files one is great for going back to school next week!

Jamanda

jamsam wrote:

Thanks. I'll look out for that.

dougal

"Mylar" is simply a trademark for a particular plastic film, incidentally a rather strong (and tough) one. The plastic in question is a polyester, chemically similar to Terylene, Dacron and PET (the lemonade bottle stuff).

Because of its strength, Mylar makes a good backing support for a thin reflective (specifically infra red reflective) film of aluminium.
Its the reflective stuff (not the Mylar support) that reflects heat radiation.

If you wrapped marathon runners in cooking foil, it'd reflect their body heat back to them, but it wouldn't be long before it tore, AND the aluminium conducts heat through itself. But Mylar "space blankets" don't conduct heat very well, don't tear easily, and their coatings can be very reflective.

The silvery insides of some crisp packets aren't quite as reflective.
Apart from cost (like being free), I don't think there's going to be a performance advantage (disadvantage more likely), compared to lining the polystyrene tiles with Aluminium cooking foil, to keep the heat (and boost the light) in that greenhouse. (The polystyrene will act to reduce heat conduction.)

cortina1498

dougal wrote:

cortina1498

Hi dougal, sorry about the earlier post, I don't understand this bit about quotes, I would like to hold up my hand and say that, obviously, I don't have your technical knowledge about 'plastics' but, what I do know is that this thread is about R.R.R. and I , in my ignorance, am doing my best, any constructive advice and help is more than welcome.
cheers

dougal

Absolutely - but my main point is that its only the clean, bright, mirror-shiny-insides that are actually going to make any difference to your tiles -- the idea is to make them into mirrors, or at least, reflectors.
Its the reflective coating making a reflector (not the Mylar itself), that does the good stuff.

Quoting.
After you click the "Quote" button, a message-writing window opens with the post to be quoted already topped and tailed by square-bracket "tags".
(Incidentally, this also allows you to examine how someone has formatted their post -- its a great way of learning!)
Anyway, you can click 'after' the end of the quoted stuff, to get an insertion point and then you can type your response... before clicking the 'Submit' button.

Its all just text, but stuff inside square brackets [ ] are formatting "tags", that do stuff (without themselves appearing).
There are buttons above the text box for easy entry of some formatting tags.
You can play around, using the 'Preview' button until you get it right, or have had enough! No one else will see, until you click 'Submit' -- and you never have to, just go somewhere else to cancel your post.
Enjoy!

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