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On the production side of the foam contractor's business, the proportioner or metering unit in many ways is the heart. There have always been many choices even as the industry seems to fold into a single supplier, Graco.

How should you decide on a proportioner? Mostly by output in lbs per minute.

1. For typical roofing applications (let’s say average job size is bigger than 30,000 sq.ft) you should really consider Graco’s H-40 partially for its high throughput, but more importantly for the available heater capacity up to 20 kW. The H-40 machine will spray around 40 lbs./minute, but most foam roofer seem to be more comfortable with an 03 mixing chamber resulting somewhere around 30 lb/min. If your budget dictates a more economical machine, the Graco’s E-30 offers good performance in the 25 lb/min range.
2. Insulation contractors have more choices. Even experienced applicators typically spray in the 12 to 15 lb/minute range. Beside the systems mentioned above, the H-25 and E-20 made by Graco are good performers. Also a good contender in this league is GlasCraft’s Guardian A5, an air-driven machine.

How about hydraulic versus electric versus air?

For newcomers in our industry, here is a short explanation what this means: all proportioners are powered by electricity. Most are available in different versions such as 220, 380 or 400 volts in single and triple phase configurations. The electricity either drives a hydraulic motor which in turn powers the material pumps (such as the H-40, H-25 and their siblings H-XP3 and H-XP2) or it powers electric material pumps (E-20, E-30, E-XP1, E-XP2). The third alternative is the air-powered system such as GlasCraft’s Guardian A5 or Graco’s A-20.

Generally speaking, the hydraulic machines are highest priced but require less maintenance when they get older and often last more than 10 years. The electric machines are good and trouble-free performers but probably won’t last as long. The air-driven machines were a viable alternative before there were electric systems because they were most affordable. Today, the electric machines are the lowest cost systems.

How important is the heater capacity?

It is very important! In the middle of the summer, all systems perform well. Once it gets cold, more effort needs to be spent preheating the materials with smaller systems. Another consideration is that most foams seemingly perform well even below optimal temperatures; however, the yield may suffer a little bit. If you spray $150,000 of material through a system in a year, even 5% yield loss will be significant and easily pay for a higher end system.