Delivery volume of cellulose insulation blower

Elcam84 · 07-01-18, 03:48 PM

Well finally getting closer to redoing and adding attic insulation. The original stuff is old coal slag mineral wool blown in junk from the late 50s... Its the worst insulation type to deal with full of coal slag as it was poorly manufactured.

I will be removing it in a number of places to facilitate remodeling work. What I remove will not be reused as its garbage.

After running my numbers I will need a minimum of 100 bags for the house including the garage. Ideally R60 would require around 170 bags... Probably going to use green fiber as I haven't found any insulation suppliers that sell the other brands here.

I haven't used the loaner machines from the borgs as I have always used fiberglass in the past and it goes pretty quick as it requires a fraction of the bags. Any idea how many bags per hour those machines will process? I don't want to spend a full day up there blowing insulation. If its as slow as I have heard I may end up going fiberglass as well here.

Wish I could get it done sooner as its been 100*+ since the end of May with 6-8 hours of 100+ and highs over 110* at times. Its 109* right now... Low of 80* too with it still in the 90s at 2am... Our 1% temp is 100* and we are well past 1% already... Sure glad I used accurate numbers for my load calcs instead of the published ones...

Elcam84 · 07-26-18, 07:05 PM

Finally found a guy at depot in the tool rental and knew how to look it up. Their machine is rated for 450 pounds per hour.

MN Renovator · 07-29-18, 03:42 PM

Keep in mind that this would be the maximum it can blow though, if you've got one person loading the machine constantly, there will be some time with cutting the next bag open and tossing them in, I doubt the thing would stay at a steady rate of 20+ bags an hour, seems optimistic. I imagine these machines, being rentals, might not live up to the performance of a new machine. Probably other factors too. Anyone have direct experience who can give a realistic number?

Elcam84 · 07-30-18, 07:24 AM

True and my helper might be a little slow.

The times I have used the fiberglass machine it was non stop feeding that thing. You had enough time to grab another bale cut it in half and then start feeding it in. If the pile of bales were too far away it could go dry...

The part i dread about using cellulose is that its the dustiest thing on earth. And i will hear about that from the helper feeding the machine.... Fiberglass is fast to install and very clean to install but it's almost twice the price. Fiberglass also requires allot less bales so only one trailer load vs 2.

mincus · 08-28-18, 12:22 PM

I put about 110 bags in my attic. You are correct about the dust, I had clothes on from head to toe, and came out absolutely covered. Wish I could find the picture. A good respirator is a must!

This was 6 or so years ago, but I want to say it took 6 hours or so to blow all that in. That counted some stops and starts for different things.

One thing to check because it caused me a days worth of delays. The machine just wasn't blowing right to start. Spent an entire day and many conversations with clueless Lowe's reps. Essentially the hose would get clogged after a few seconds. We would remove all the hoses, empty them (which was a huge pain), clean out the machine (also a huge pain), etc. Start it up again, and same thing. Very long and frustrating story short, the air intake was clogged. Once we figured that out the thing blew like crazy and it was easy. So, if you're having any issues (or just as a matter of making your life easier), clean out the air intake on the machine and it will work like new.

Good luck.

07-01-18, 03:48 PM	#1
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	Delivery volume of cellulose insulation blower Well finally getting closer to redoing and adding attic insulation. The original stuff is old coal slag mineral wool blown in junk from the late 50s... Its the worst insulation type to deal with full of coal slag as it was poorly manufactured. I will be removing it in a number of places to facilitate remodeling work. What I remove will not be reused as its garbage. After running my numbers I will need a minimum of 100 bags for the house including the garage. Ideally R60 would require around 170 bags... Probably going to use green fiber as I haven't found any insulation suppliers that sell the other brands here. I haven't used the loaner machines from the borgs as I have always used fiberglass in the past and it goes pretty quick as it requires a fraction of the bags. Any idea how many bags per hour those machines will process? I don't want to spend a full day up there blowing insulation. If its as slow as I have heard I may end up going fiberglass as well here. Wish I could get it done sooner as its been 100+ since the end of May with 6-8 hours of 100+ and highs over 110 at times. Its 109* right now... Low of 80* too with it still in the 90s at 2am... Our 1% temp is 100* and we are well past 1% already... Sure glad I used accurate numbers for my load calcs instead of the published ones...

07-26-18, 07:05 PM	#2
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	Finally found a guy at depot in the tool rental and knew how to look it up. Their machine is rated for 450 pounds per hour.

07-29-18, 03:42 PM	#3
MN Renovator Less usage=Cheaper bills Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 940 Thanks: 41 Thanked 117 Times in 91 Posts	Keep in mind that this would be the maximum it can blow though, if you've got one person loading the machine constantly, there will be some time with cutting the next bag open and tossing them in, I doubt the thing would stay at a steady rate of 20+ bags an hour, seems optimistic. I imagine these machines, being rentals, might not live up to the performance of a new machine. Probably other factors too. Anyone have direct experience who can give a realistic number?

07-30-18, 07:24 AM	#4
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	True and my helper might be a little slow. The times I have used the fiberglass machine it was non stop feeding that thing. You had enough time to grab another bale cut it in half and then start feeding it in. If the pile of bales were too far away it could go dry... The part i dread about using cellulose is that its the dustiest thing on earth. And i will hear about that from the helper feeding the machine.... Fiberglass is fast to install and very clean to install but it's almost twice the price. Fiberglass also requires allot less bales so only one trailer load vs 2.

08-28-18, 12:22 PM	#5
mincus Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 42 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I put about 110 bags in my attic. You are correct about the dust, I had clothes on from head to toe, and came out absolutely covered. Wish I could find the picture. A good respirator is a must! This was 6 or so years ago, but I want to say it took 6 hours or so to blow all that in. That counted some stops and starts for different things. One thing to check because it caused me a days worth of delays. The machine just wasn't blowing right to start. Spent an entire day and many conversations with clueless Lowe's reps. Essentially the hose would get clogged after a few seconds. We would remove all the hoses, empty them (which was a huge pain), clean out the machine (also a huge pain), etc. Start it up again, and same thing. Very long and frustrating story short, the air intake was clogged. Once we figured that out the thing blew like crazy and it was easy. So, if you're having any issues (or just as a matter of making your life easier), clean out the air intake on the machine and it will work like new. Good luck.