I visited with a very nice lady at Southern Glass down here at Jacksonville a few days ago. They were using a perimeter spacer and adding a eighth-inch plate of glass to either side, making the panes a complete and energy-efficient window between outside and inside.
Has anybody else done this? Is there any description of the hardware and procedure necessary to do it?
Thanks, Michael
The materials and equimpent are available from CRLaurence. My experience is that the manual procedure of insulating glass with SG in the middle is iffy at best. I have my IG work done for me at a commercial glazier that has a machine that seals the unit with heat and pressure. Plan on spending $250K for something like that.
What were they insulating with 1/8" thick glass? Where was it installed?
We do it all the time at our studio. If you can't figure it out you might want to take it to a pro. You could probably do a search and find a description. Maybe Brady can explain it to you.
Jack
What were they insulating with 1/8" thick glass? Where was it installed?
They sandwiched a stained glass window, a symetrical and repeated set of diamonds, between the 1/8" pieces using a perimeter spacer and some type of black goo to seal them. The finished piece was between 3/4" and an inch in thickness. I was sceptical, because I thought that thermal windows needed a vacuum pulled on them to keep them from getting condensation in them. She said they used a dessicant (spelling?) and didn't have to vacuum them.
She said the work was done for a major window company (I'm thinking Pella but wouldn't swear to it), and it was destined to be installed in a house.
Michael
We do it all the time at our studio. If you can't figure it out you might want to take it to a pro.
*************** I think I'd hesitate to do it myself, but it doesn't keep me from being curious about the technique and the hardware. Southern Glass said that there was somebody in Indianapolis who could do it for me.Thanks, Michael
I just finished a 6'-0 by 6'6" bath window that I had insulated. I used
1/4" safety glass on both sides, which is code for the application. It is installed in a rot-free sash, and heavier than Hell. I know some of the guys on this group go the do-it-yourself route for insulating windows. I never have, because I have a source about 4 miles from my shop and they have the $250K machine and make IG units 25-30 times a day. I'd rather buy a wheel when I need one than to reinvent one.
That spacer you are talking about is the adhesive and dessicant. Comes in rolls of various thicknesses. The black stuff is silicone. We often install at 3000' higher elevation than we build them. We install a capillary tube to equalize the pressure and pull it out at the installed elevation.
Jack
Man my back hurts just thinking about picking that thing up!
I hate doing it, but will if they insist. Too many future issues with stains, thumb prints, fogging, and plain ugliness. We put plate on on the front and install right over it if needed. Think about it.... the SG windows that have been standing 100 years, never had any thermo pane.
Yeah..it took two real big boys to put it on my trailer. I told the builder that is doing the remodel jobon the house where it goes that he needed two things on Tuesday morning. Lots of help to move it off my trailer, and $$$$. LOL
In my neck of the woods only a flexible spacer is used on curvy stuff. Aluminum spacer bars for everything else. The bars are 3/8" wide and
3/8" tall and generally one bar is half filled with dessicant to absorb any moisture trapped between the two pieces of glass. Hot butyl is then applied with a squeeze gun to the edge of the unit. If stained glass goes into the unit then neoprene block are inserted into the butyl at the bottom of the unit to prevent the unit from pushing the spacer bar into the butyl.
I like JK Sinrod's reply. Sandwiching stained glass inside a double glazed, insulating window isn't worth doing. The black sealant used by lots of reputable window manufacturers fails often. I've worked as a builder for many years and have seen many such windows - Pella, Harvey, JB, and custom windows - fog up. This is failure of the sealant. The better way to make an insulating window is with heat, which Andersen did with their "permashield" windows. If you want to protect stained glass use heavy plate, or polycarbonate sheet, or sandwich it without trying to make an insulating panel. Insulating panels are not much better than single panels anyway. Well, they're twice as good - but still not very good. Most of the heat lost through windows is by drafts.
One of the 1st things I learning at the end of the cheap fuel days was that infiltration is 95% of energy loss. Simple glazing, caulk and mouldings solves most of it. With each extra layer of glazing from single to double to triple, you gain a smaller advantage, and a longer period of recovery of costs. I always chuckle when they ask about energy efficiency when I see a Hummer parked next to the Lexus in their driveway!
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