I don’t think the air space helps–it hurts. As a building contractor I can tell you the goal of any insulation is to isolate small areas of air to prevent differences in temperature from creating moving air and therefore transferring heat. If an airspace worked we would simply seal up the spaces between studs and not need to install insulation. Foam does this better than fiberglass. You want solid material that has a low heat transmission with lots of voids.
how about the mesh sleeves that are used around wine bottles (shipping)? I purchased some rum at the airport (Duty Free) and they had these nice , thick foam sleeves.
@zelph2: That got me very interested and I checked out their website. They also make big bubble outdoor duct insulation R-8.0. But they’re both nominal 1″ thick.
David, go back and read what they say about the R8 big bubble.
The product provides an R-8.0 when installed with a 0.75” air gap between the duct and the insulation, and R-6.0 when installed direct to the duct without a spacer.
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