85% Magnesia insulation
Description
Moulded light weight insulation material manufactured with 85-95% Magnesium Carbonate and 10-15% asbestos binder.
Primarily amosite asbestos mixed with a small amount of chrysotile asbestos.
Produced in blocks, radiused sections and plastic composition. Designed to be hand-cut to shape/size on site, which exposed fibres.
Shaped sections fastened with tie wire. Pipe insulation may be calico or canvas wrapped and fastened with sewn thread and/or steel strapping. During mid-20th Century, some installers painted a 2″ red band on these insulated pipes at intervals to distinguish the insulation presence.
Was sometimes installed in combination with asbestos insulation product: High Temperature (HT) blocks.
Brands/products
- Hardie-BI-CSR
- Hardie’s
- Carey (USA)
- Johns Manville (USA)
- Turner & Newall (UK)
- Bell’s Asbestos & Engineering
Years of production/use
Imported product sold in Australia from at least 1924.
Hardie’s produced this product from 1930. Between 1964-1974 Hardies co-produced this and other thermal insulation products with Bradford Insulation Industries and CSR.
Residential uses
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Industrial uses
Used widely around the world in industrial applications, particularly for high temperature industrial plant (boilers, heat ducting, hot water pipes etc) for insulation up to 315°C.
Be aware
Catalogue diagram also displays use of asbestos washers for fixing blocks in place to steel ducting.
Calico or canvas wrapping (jacketing) may be an indication of ACM presence.
Long term heat exposure may degrade product.
Pipes may be recently encapsulated with other insulation material such as jacketed fibreglass or mineral wool.
