Almost all of the energy lost through the bottom of a surface (down) is in the form of radiant energy. Without getting into an extremely long post about the science behind this, even if the cage is several feet above a surface, the cage will lose energy to that surface, and the greater the difference in temperature, the faster the rate of loss from the warmer surface to the cooler one. This is especially important when the floor or surface is concrete or a similar material that will ususally be fairly cool and has hardly any R-value.



Since metal is opaque to infrared energy, 100% will be reflected from the foil surface of these types of insulation. This is the same technology that low-e glass and other heat savings devices use. The foil faced, high density insulation (polyisocyanurate)I recommend has a much higher R-value than the "bubble foil" does. Also , to obtain the most efficient reflectivety, you want to create an airspace between the bottom surface and the foil of at least 3/4". This is easy to do by placing some 1x2's between the cage and insulation as spacers. By making a perimeter frame and any internal supports with 1x2's, you will not loss energy to the environment from the airspace created.



Any foil faced insulation will help reduce the energy losses from a cage, but we have found that of all of the types we have studied, the above type has provided the best results. Often times, other types may be more practical. Any foil faced surface will help reduce losses and I therefore think is a good practice to use.

No matter whate type of heat source is being used, foil insulation will help lower the costs to heat the cage. The more the cage can be insulated, the more one will save in energy costs. Insulation almost always pays for itself fairly quickly an is not very expensive to purchase.



One thing to always be carefull of is that putting any metal near or against an electrical source (heat tape, etc.) can become energized by the field created by the source which can result in a shock hazard or even potentially worse.



Bob @ Pro Products
Pro Products

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