Spray in foam

[alaskanyoung]

What is the easiest way to remove spray in foam from a traulsen? What tools have you used?

 

[ChrisStef]

We've removed spray foam insulation a couple of different ways at work (commercial demolition). One being cutting lines in it with a sawzall and chiseling out the the chunks and the other is with a handheld router and a bowl bit. The router move is the fastest but youre limited on the depth.

 

[BandCollector]

Where is the foam seeping from? If you could supply pictures that would be helpful.

Well anyway, any time I had to "cut away" foam from anything I simply used a wide putty knife after the foam had cured.

I hope this helps,

John

 

[alaskanyoung]

I think im going to chalk this project up as a loss. The cabinet was $100. The hoppers were $900~ and about $50 in misc expense. I dont think i want to get too far into removing this foam. It is an absolute nightmare to deal with.

 

[alaskanyoung]

Its taken me almost two hrs to get one wall off. Not sure if im doing it right or not. Trying not to bend and rip the thin metal

 

[BandCollector]

Its taken me almost two hrs to get one wall off. Not sure if im doing it right or not. Trying not to bend and rip the thin metal

It looks like a good unit and a quality piece of equipment. . . .Stick with it! Your patience will pay off in the long run.

John

 

[mneeley490]

I refurbished something similar. Laid it on it's side and took off the top and bottom. Then poked a hole all the way along the length with a metal rod. Threaded a cutting device through the hole (in my case, it was a length of chain from a chain saw) and sawed around the remaining 3 sides until I could get the interior box out. After that, you can remove the foam by scraping with a tile blade. The little bit that was left, I just burned off with a propane torch.

 

[alaskanyoung]

Im curious how to put it back together. There will be nothing to bolt to because the insulation is gone and youve created a gap using a crowbar and hammer down the seem.

 

[dward51]

Once you get the shell open, use a flat knife blade for a multi-tool. Get up against the metal and let the vibrating knife do the work.

As to re-assembly. Military grade stainless steel pop-rivets are your friend. Especially if you have or can borrow a hydraulic rivet tool as stainless can be much harder to install by hand as it's a harder metal than aluminum. You can also add rivet nuts to add racks and other mounting points while you are at it. If there is nothing to attach to, then just add in some angle channel to create a backing (it can be riveted also). Yes welding is probably the right way, but rivets are a lot less expensive and if you take your time and think about where you are putting them will look just fine. Make sure to use blind rivets that seal the end though and size them to the thickness of the metal.

I used one of these on a project and it was a breeze to use. Pricey to buy though (I borrowed it). Photo is of me putting in rivet nuts. It exerts 5,000 lbs of pull on the rivet stem (works "like butta"). Rivet nut and stainless screw in bracket above it are already installed.

 

[alaskanyoung]

I sincerely hope the hard part is over

 

[alaskanyoung]

Has anybody used this to remove foam?

https://tedgar.net/index.php/en/

 

[ChrisStef]

Im not getting any volume on the video. Whats the product he's using? Ive heard acetone does the trick but im not sure how thats going to interact with food and fire.

 

[bill1]

I'll bump this a bit just because I'm curious. I thought most spray-in insulation was just the fibrous cotton candy stuff, which gets incredibly dusty in a decade. So its a thing now to spray in the "root-beer-float" style stuff that sets up as true closed-cell foam?

Tell me more.

jdixon, if this doesn't kindle a fire, I'd start a new thread. Everyone's going to think this is about old 'fridge conversions otherwise.