Maxcons Silver Reflective Sheet

Maxcons silver Reflective Sheet is a reflective canvas that reduces the temperature in your tent.

It also protects your tent from bird and leaf stains.

The reflective sheet fits any caravan, caravan tent or camping tent, and is unique in design and material. It is washable with a pressure washer without damaging the material or affecting the reflectiveness. Traditional reflective canvas sheets lose their water resistance and aluminium cover when washed with a pressure washer.

Maxcon Reflective Sheet has built-in webbing for strength and stability. The webbing has built-in copper eyelets where the Maxcon Guy Rope is attached.

Maxcons manufactures:

• A silver reflective canvas sheet made from shade-net that repels most water with only a light mist flowing through the net. This sheet breathes and lets out hot air that builds up between the sheet and the tent canvas. It is the same size but lighter than the ripstop canvas sheet and carries a 10-year guarantee.

There is no need for additional storm ropes, bands, and nets to safeguard the Maxcons Reflective Sheet in strong winds.

The temperature under a reflective sheet

Campers often buy reflective silver sheets on the promise that it reduces the temperature inside a tent by 5 or more degrees. That is misleading. The temperature inside a tent depends on whether the tent is closed, whether the wind is blowing, whether the tent is in direct sun, soil temperature and the heat build-up below the tent roof.

Heat flows from hot to cold surfaces or areas in three possible ways:

• Radiation –  from a warm surface to a cooler surface through air space.
• Conduction – through solid or fluid materials.
• Convection – through the physical movement of air.

Radiation is the flow of heat across an air space. It happens when sunlight travels through a windscreen and heats up a dashboard or steering wheel.

Conduction is the flow of heat through physical contact. Heat is transferred from a flame, through the metal of a kettle and heats up the water inside the kettle.

Convection is the transfer of heat by air circulation. Heat is transferred from a camping stove in the tent or the hot soil around a tent into the tent.

I could not find any reflective sheet manufacturer or user who could illustrate how their reflective sheet reduced the temperature below it from 25 to 15° (10°).

A reflective sheet only keeps the air below it away from the heat from the sun. This creates a cooler area in the tent, which is in turn influenced by moving air from around the tent. A reflective sheet will make your tent cooler, but it will not make it an icebox.

Much of the temperature experienced by campers depends on the UV rays from the sun. Still, the temperature of the wind or air, whether overcast and full sunshine or shade, all play a role in what level of comfort you experience.

It is possible for a reflective sheet to reduce the tactile temperature by a degree or three, but a reduction of 5 degrees or more is probably not due to the reflective sheet but to other factors.

If a reflective sheet keeps heat out, it also keeps heat inside, so heat reflection from the ground or hot moving air will collect below a reflective cover.

I found “test results” on the reflectivity of material used in camping accessories that all seem somewhat unscientific. Most manufacturers who claim large temperature reductions tested their products in the open air without reporting or accounting for airflow and other variable factors.

Maxcons silver reflective sheet is one of a kind

Maxcons will wait for scientific proof of the ability of the reflective material it uses for its reflective canvas sheets, before making any claims.

Maxcons manufactures a breathable silver reflective sheet with a 10-year warranty that is not 100% waterproof but allows a fine water spray through.

Maxcons do give the assurance that their sheets will make a difference and will protect tents against bird droppings and other stains. Also, the Maxcons Reflective Sheet will withstand stormy weather and will last longer than any comparable product with normal use and care.

Inflatable beach balls to lift the reflective sheet from the tent canvas and create circulation are included with every Maxcons Reflective Sheet sold.

Tip: When using beach balls, only inflate 40 – 60% and “wrap” over the ridge pole. It will then move with the wind movement without being “rolled out” from between the sheet and the tent roof.