Keezer build.

My company has built many keezers to date for our clients. My personal kegerators (yeah, plural... ) have no collar insulation.

Our builds in the field now have this stuff


It does make a little difference but it is mostly for show to provide a clean finished look. The insulation matches the silver interior of the freezer. Applied with liquid nails and stapled it fits like wall paper and looks good. It is a true vapor barrier too if installed correctly.

Cheers.

 

Wood is an excellent insulator. I made mine 2x10s.

 

Wood is good at a lot of things, but insulation isn't one of them. R Value of framing members is less than 2 per inch of soft wood. From the looks of it, your collar has an R Value of about 0.5, maybe a bit more. That is far from excellent.

A 2x6 is a fine material in this application however. Their is actually very little heat gain at the collar level in a chest freezer. The air up there is not treated. Check the air temps from top middle and bottom. An 8 to 10 degree variation is possible. The cold air sits in the well of the freezer. Think of he open air freezers at the grocery store. So there is very little to insulate anyway.

Vapor transmission, now that is another story.

Cheers.

 

I don't know the R value, I know my log home was by far the most energy efficient house I ever lived in with its solid wood walls. As you said though, the cooler air is at the bottom unless you have a fan circulating. I've never seen the need to insulate a collar but if someone wishes to, have at it...