I m not sure when they switched to the new kind but it wasn t more than five years ago or so.
Can you use packing peanuts as insulation.
Most packing peanuts are made of polystyrene.
If they get wet they ll dissolve and they re made to be highly biodegradable so they ll break down pretty quickly anyway.
Foam packing peanuts as insulation.
Yes packing peanuts are excellent insulators because they are made out of styrofoam.
New packing peanuts are made from a type of corn starch.
The very reason why plastic peanuts work well as packing makes them a bad choice for wall insulation.
The r value of polystyrene is about 4 0 per inch.
Osborn a former associate editor replies.
As far as being a fire hazard eps from which the peanuts are made can be and has been legally used in sheets for insulation as long as it s covered by a fire rated barrier such as drywall as bsee cm suggests above i would expect that if you were using peanuts in a wallspace that you would want to compress them as much as possible to maximise the extent to which they entrap air.
Styrofoam is designed from air bubbles that are trapped to prevent heat energy from escaping.
If the packing peanuts are newer they won t work.
In a wall cavity they would offer little resistance to air movement so they would be of limited r value.
By preventing heat loss packing peanuts make lovely insulators.