Double-Wall Vacuum Insulation: Worth the Hype?

These days, it’s common to see high-quality drinkware featuring double-wall vacuum insulation. 

Sounds fancy! But what exactly does this special feature mean beyond simply being a buzzword? Does putting a layer of air between your drink and the outside world really keep your beverages at the ideal temperature for longer? 

Rather surprisingly, the history of double-wall insulation’s invention is traced back to a cryogenics researcher in 1892.

While we’re not convinced that people were sipping their drinks out of perfectly-insulated cups back in those days, Sir James Dewar was really onto something and ahead of his time in drinkware advancement! 

Check out this fascinating science that goes into every single Greens Steel BEAST and Bottle:

Double-Wall Vacuum Construction Explained

In a nutshell, a double-wall vacuum-sealed bottle or tumbler has a main body that’s built with two walls of stainless steel or similar materials.

The walls are kept somewhat apart from one another so there’s a little empty space between both the interior wall and the exterior wall.

This ensures that a vacuum is created: a space without even air molecules left to float around.

so How Does it Help Keep Your Beverage at the Perfect Temperature?

Double-wall vacuum insulated drinkware can keep your beverage at their ideal temperature (both hot and cold) because of how a vacuum affects heat convection and conduction. 

Without getting too involved in the science, heat can basically be thought of as the vibration of different molecules.

This is why heat goes from hot objects or liquids to cold objects or liquids (and not the reverse). Technically, there’s no such thing as “cold”. It’s just a lack of heat!

That being said, heat can only transfer from molecule to molecule if they are in close proximity.

A vacuum by its very nature doesn’t have any air molecules to facilitate heat transfer from the liquid inside your tumbler or water bottle to the exterior wall. 

Heat “likes” to eventually reach equilibrium: the state where all the surrounding atoms and molecules vibrate at about the same speed. 

Similarly, double-wall vacuum insulated water bottles and tumblers can keep your beverages cold by preventing heat from the surrounding environment from crossing the vacuum threshold and reaching your cool liquid.

Do Double Wall Vacuum Insulated Bottles Need to Use Stainless Steel?

For the ultimate vacuum insulation and heat retention capabilities, the short answer is yes.

While there are some double-wall vacuum insulated bottles that use plastic or other materials, these are much more difficult to truly vacuum seal. Furthermore, plastic and less durable materials can easily get holes in them, ruining the vacuum barrier. 

In contrast, stainless steel is durable and anticorrosive, so it won’t degrade over time. That’s the big reason why here at Greens Steel we use pure 18/8 stainless steel for all of our stainless steel double-wall vacuum insulated bottles and tumblers. 

Indeed, each of our Stainless Steel Water Bottles and BEAST Tumblers will keep your beverages at the ideal temperature throughout the day.

When you’re looking for a drink that stays perfect from the first sip right down to the last drop, it’s plain to see that double-wall vacuum insulation really matters.  

Life’s too short for cold coffee and melted ice, so make every delicious beverage count with Greens Steel!  

Justin | Greens Steel Wellness Contributor
Maine, USA