Door Insulation in 1st Gen Escape 19?

[George Johnson]

I am a recent buyer of an early 2009 Escape 19. The entry door seems to be made of aluminum with a hollow core. Does anyone know if ETI put a sheet of insulation in the hollow part of the door? If they didn't, this would seem to be a significant source of heat loss.

If the door was made without insulation, has anyone attempted to inject expanding foam to provide some, or perhaps used other methods to insulate the door?

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by George Johnson

I am a recent buyer of an early 2009 Escape 19. The entry door seems to be made of aluminum with a hollow core. Does anyone know if ETI put a sheet of insulation in the hollow part of the door? If they didn't, this would seem to be a significant source of heat loss.

If the door was made without insulation, has anyone attempted to inject expanding foam to provide some, or perhaps used other methods to insulate the door?

Linda sewed a lined curtain that we have now for 5plus years on a spring rod . I made tie backs with snaps to gather when not needed . Because of our cool door that leaves a air space behind the curtain in front of the door . Leaves us nice and toasty when used . Pat

[rubicon327]

I insulated the door with polystyrene balls that would be used to fill a bean bag chair. It worked well. The door stays warmer in winter, has a nicer swing weight and shuts a little quieter. I used the area of the lock to fill so no holes put in the door.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9...tml#post199433

[cpaharley2008]

My 2012 did not have insulation, my 2014 did have insulation inside. Several owners drilled holes and filled with pellets, the foam can expand too much.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by George Johnson

I am a recent buyer of an early 2009 Escape 19. The entry door seems to be made of aluminum with a hollow core.

The door is made of moulded fiberglass, like the rest of the body of the trailer, but it has inner and outer skins.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by George Johnson

I am a recent buyer of an early 2009 Escape 19. The entry door seems to be made of aluminum with a hollow core. Does anyone know if ETI put a sheet of insulation in the hollow part of the door? If they didn't, this would seem to be a significant source of heat loss.



If the door was made without insulation, has anyone attempted to inject expanding foam to provide some, or perhaps used other methods to insulate the door?

I haven't heard of anyone shooting foam into the door, but it's entirely possible. Also, as Brian points out, it's fiberglass.

[cpaharley2008]

My 2012 E19 had insulated glass in all the windows as well as the door, but the door was not insulated. I asked Reace about insulating it by removing the lock and filing with pellets, turn upside down and fill more. He started insulating the doors soon after that as my 2014 E21 door was insulated.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

I haven't heard of anyone shooting foam into the door, but it's entirely possible. Also, as Brian points out, it's fiberglass.

Just be cautious about the expansion rate. Too much & it will deform or even part the two halves of the door. Amazing how much power expanding foam can have!

[MyronL]

RE: Expansion rate, can it be more like that of Gorilla Glue? If so, not good.

[Iowa Dave]

There are varying degrees of expansion on “spray foam”. The one called “great stuff”
Expands a lot and you wouldn’t want to use it in the door. One time my boss sent me to kill a nest of German yellow jackets that had made a colony in the corner of a historic
Farmhouse we had in a pioneer village. Early in the morning while cool I went quickly from access point to access point spray foam in hand. The sticky foam stopped the hornets from coming out. Feeling good about my dominance I put the straw in every crack, crevice and knothole in the corner boards where the hornets “might” have been. I left the scene pretty proud of myself. The next day I went back. I was a little horrified when I walked up to my job, the expanding foam had pushed the corner boards about three inches off the building and the foam was dry and bulging out everywhere. Took me about an hour to pull the nails, scrape the foam and dead hornets off the boards and corner of the house and refit and nail the boards back down. Late to a meeting with the commish, I said simply, “ Had to check my hornet kill out at Seminole Park. Got them all”. Boss said “Good deal”
Last time I did that. Did I mention I had climbed up on a 55 gallon barrel to get as high as I could. I was younger then and couldn’t do it now.
Iowa Dave

[Defenestrator]

While I haven't looked inside my door, I'm fairly sure it's insulated. I've been in pretty cold weather (2-4F overnight lows) and haven't noticed the body of the door being colder than any other area. The metal frame around the door does get very cold though, to the point that I actually had ice building up on it from frozen condensation even though overall interior temperatures were quite toasty.

[cpaharley2008]

Yes, I believe all the 2ndG doors are insulated from the factory before Escape installs them.

[Brian B-P]

In case some readers are not clear on the difference in doors between the generations of Escapes:

1. First generation (original Escape style, made up to some time in 2016, depending on model) - moulded fiberglass curved door on "refrigerator" hinges, made by Escape
2. Second generation (vertical-sided body, available starting in 2016) - flat door on piano hinge, made by an outside supplier

These two types of doors are constructed very differently.

[George Johnson]

Wow, lots of good information and background here. Thanks to all of you for sharing this.

The course I've decided to take with my first gen door is to remove it, place it on edge with the hinge side on the ground and fill it with with styrofoam through the door latch. I'm assuming (dangerous, I know!) that I will be able to protect the latch mechanism from stray bits of foam before re-installation.

Bean bag chairs are so far in the past that even the local thrift shops don't have any in inventory, but I did find that Walmart sells three cubic foot bags of the stuff for about $20. I figure the left overs will find their way into the ventilation ducts of the vehicle of the next close relative to get married. Just have to be careful not to leave any finger prints on the dash board!