Every so often we are forced into providing a factual comparison against window tinting dealers who do the old French fry lamp heat trick; with or without a BTU meter.
Several clients have asked me where I am hiding my heat lamp demo kit?
The scam purportedly demonstrates the perception of effectiveness for a very light window film that employs IR reducing technology.
The “Mark” (You!) are supposed to exit this demo completely convinced that this miracle film (nearly clear as Saran Wrap) can block as much heat as a dark metallic or non metallic film.
How they do the trick:
The IR lamp (think French fry lamp at the local McDonalds) is blasting out an intense amount of IR heat.
The lamp appears glowing red because it is providing an intense amount of IR heat typically invisible yet responsible for nearly 50% of what we feel as heat.
Let’s say a film can block more than 95% of the entire IR wavelength (no film does that but let’s say they did) than this super film would factor out 95% of 50% of what we feel as heat. Assuming that the film being promoted is very light (blocks 20-30% of the visible light) you have a net result of 30% of the 48% visible light. The end result in the real world is a film that blocks a total of approximately 59-60%
But that heat lamp is a whole lot hotter than 90 degrees isn’t it?
It’s hotter than an oven at 500 degrees and all of it focused in the IR wavelength.
Can you see where this is going?
If you are really doing the trick well you’ll add another touch to get the sucker entirely in the bag.
Show a demo comparison box between a clear glass, a dark reflective film on glass or a limo type dark film on glass.
Have the “Mark” feel the heat difference between these various film alternatives without mentioning the visible light portion (real world!)
You can close the deal by showing a BTU meter that only measures “heat” rejection in the same near IR wavelengths these films work best. This will give the illusion of a clear film somehow blocking more heat than a limo tint or a dark reflective film that really blocks 85% of the heat that we experience on Earth!
Advanced Film Solutions prefers to deal with factual real world data.
The NFRC rates the various window films we promote after reviewing quantitative, documented performance characteristics of film coatings on various window
configurations.
