SOLEC has recently submitted its LO/MIT Radiant Barrier Coating products for testing by McDowell-Owens, a distinguished forensics firm that specializes in fire causation investigations. With recent articles being published about the dangers of the electrical conductivity of radiant barrier technologies and their relationships to home fires, SOLEC wanted to be sure its products would not potentially pose the same kind of hazard concern for homeowners or liability concern for contractors or architects.
The LO/MIT samples submitted to McDowell-Owens were subjected to the same forensic tests as were done on foil products, and they had this to say:
1. When energized by a “low” voltage below approximately 300 volts the products appear to be essentially non-conductive.
2. When energized by approximately 5,000 volts from a standard “Megger” a small amount of leakage current was measured “intermittently” and depending upon the placement of the test probes.
3. When energized by approximately 12,000 volts a small amount of current flow was consistently observed. While it was not possible to measure the exact amount of current it was concluded that the amount was very small since no significant amount of heating or discoloration occurred on the material tested.
4. The most important finding during the testing was that with all the various voltages and test configurations applied, unlike the other radiant barrier materials tested, the SOLEC material never ignited.
“We were also pleased to learn that, at least the SOLEC brand of paint-on products do not appear to present the same dangers of fire ignition that are presented by many of the other radiant barrier materials.”
The full letter from McDowell-Owens is available here. More information on this topic can be found at the links below. Please contact us at the factory if you would like more information about LO/MIT.
Special Report: Reflective Radiant Barriers
Reflective Radiant Barriers: Good for Energy savings – Bad for Fire Safety
Unusual Behavior of Radiant Barrier Materials in Fire Causation
McDowell-Owens website
