Browse Forums Windows & Doors 1 Aug 07, 2010 8:54 am Hi, I have been reading these forums for a while now but this is my very first time writing. here goes...... My main question is that our choice of Comfort Plus may not achieve what we are hoping in our situation (in winter allowing solar gain as well as keeping the warmth inside) I have also recently heard there are some problems with Comfort Plus cracking. The glass manufacturers V*** assure us that our choice will be fine and there is no problem with cracking but I have read and heard many different opinions. Any info would be great! Just a bit of background info... We are building high in the hills of Tasmania where it can snow. We are having double glazed WRC windows and are considering using Comfort Plus on the living room windows only. They face north and are HUGE so we are trying to keep as much heat in as possible but still see the view. (it is why we bought the property) We want to keep the warmth in the house and also utilise winter solar gain. All exterior walls have a verandah designed for protection from summer sun and winter rain. Hope you can help. Cheers Re: Double Glazing with Comfort Plus. Any advice? 2Aug 07, 2010 9:16 am Welcome! All sounds good... though glass is not my strong point so I will leave it for the experts. Where you are coming from is where you are going to... Re: Double Glazing with Comfort Plus. Any advice? 3Aug 07, 2010 10:09 am indidi Hi, I have been reading these forums for a while now but this is my very first time writing. here goes...... My main question is that our choice of Comfort Plus may not achieve what we are hoping in our situation (in winter allowing solar gain as well as keeping the warmth inside) I have also recently heard there are some problems with Comfort Plus cracking. The glass manufacturers V*** assure us that our choice will be fine and there is no problem with cracking but I have read and heard many different opinions. Any info would be great! Just a bit of background info... We are building high in the hills of Tasmania where it can snow. We are having double glazed WRC windows and are considering using Comfort Plus on the living room windows only. They face north and are HUGE so we are trying to keep as much heat in as possible but still see the view. (it is why we bought the property) We want to keep the warmth in the house and also utilise winter solar gain. All exterior walls have a verandah designed for protection from summer sun and winter rain. Hope you can help. Cheers There are 2 types of heat transfer we try to control with glazing. Radiant heat transfer and conducted heat. Radiant heat is heat that moves through space as waves of energy like light, it only heats when it lands on something, it is controlled by either not letting the radiation come into the room (shades & eaves), or reflecting the heat back (Low-E & sarking), by far the most radiant heat is transfered by the sun through solar heat gain, into the house. Most of us recognise the stifling heat near a window on a sunny day. Conducted heat is heat that moves through things like air, or glass, or aluminium, moving from hot to cold. This is by far the greatest heat loss in a home. Conducted heat is controlled by having a barrier to the transfer, to slow down the movement, e.g. insulation batts & double glazing. Although it comes up as an alternative in the software and raises the star value, Low-E glass works differently to double glazing. Double glazing is like insulation batts, or a snugly blanket, insulating you with its air pocket, preventing heat conduction. Low-E is like one of those reflective blankets, keeping the radiant heat in or out. Which would you rather have, a snugly blanket or a reflective blanket??? Of course, you can have both and they work very well together. Low-E on its own might tweak the stars in the software, but it won't make you cosy. Long before the recent revelations about laminated Low-E products spontaneously cracking, this was known to occur in mountain areas, where snow and ice could be on the outside of the window, and the warm interior would stress the glass to the point where it cracked. If you really want Low-E, which in your case would stop more heat entering the home, then don't have the laminated variety IMO, and couple it with double glazing. If on the other hand, you really want to stick with your choice, then ask Viridian to guarantee their laminated glass in writing, as suitable for the purpose, and make sure that the guarantee includes installation (it always covers materials). Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Double Glazing with Comfort Plus. Any advice? 4Aug 07, 2010 5:27 pm Thanks for the welcome onc_artisan Thanks Ed for all the info and explaining it all so well. I really appreciate it. I read on the other post that you weren't that well so I hope you are feeling better soon. After your comments about laminated Low E cracking we are seriously thinking we would probably be better to ditch the Low E and spend the money on Honeycomb blinds instead! We also feel that the benefits we were hoping to get from the Low E wouldn't be worth the extra cost. I have even more questions if that is ok? We have large areas of glass so need to have glass suitable for Human Impact. We were having toughened on the outside (for bushfire) and laminated on the inside. Do you think the laminated glass would be alright in this situation? Just out of curiosity......We were originally planning to have the northern windows Double Glazed with Low E on face 3. The window manufacturers said the Low E would mean any heat generated inside the house would reflect back into the house and it would still allow the heat from the winter sun to warm the house. Viridian said we should have it on face 4 and they never put it on face 3??? Which one is right? Re: Double Glazing with Comfort Plus. Any advice? 5Aug 07, 2010 7:27 pm indidi I have even more questions if that is ok? Sure... indidi We have large areas of glass so need to have glass suitable for Human Impact. We were having toughened on the outside (for bushfire) and laminated on the inside. Do you think the laminated glass would be alright in this situation? It will be fine in that configuration. But toughened would be just as strong and cheaper. indidi Just out of curiosity......We were originally planning to have the northern windows Double Glazed with Low E on face 3. The window manufacturers said the Low E would mean any heat generated inside the house would reflect back into the house and it would still allow the heat from the winter sun to warm the house. Viridian said we should have it on face 4 and they never put it on face 3??? Which one is right? Very little radiant heat is lost through windows, but, yes, surface 3 (counting from the outside) would be correct. Viridian say surface 4??? I don't think so, I think this must be a misunderstanding. This would have the Low-E coating on the surface facing inside your home. A cleaning nightmare and not very effective. Ed "ECOECO" At 'EcoEco', we design windows, we design the best windows, we do it for you, so that when you’re happy we are happy. Tel. 1800 326 326 Re: Double Glazing with Comfort Plus. Any advice? 6Aug 07, 2010 7:51 pm Thanks once again Ed. We feel your info has really helped us sort out our window choices! I know what you are saying about the Low E on surface 4. I was a bit confused as the guy at Viridian assured me it was normal! I mentioned our window suppliers said it was surface 3 and also the problem I had heard with the surface being easy to scratch and considering we often had several toddlers gathering at our place combined with the full length windows the surface could very easily be damaged. He again assured me it was on the inside of the house and on surface 4. He also said that I could just "Treat the scratches in Comfort Plus with hydrochloric acid - it melts the film to make the scratch less visible" I didn't feel very reassured It was actually after this phone conversation that we started becoming a bit concerned with using Low E.... This is one of the reasons I decided to go overseas for my double glazed windows. As the builder indicated, he's worked on many upmarket builds, these were the most well… 13 19239 1000000% definitely add insulation. I have in my home and it makes a big difference minimising sound transfer. Insulation is pretty cheap and definitely worth it 2 6191 We are building a house that was planned to be clad in Hardie Linea, our builder has now requested to swap this for BGC Nuline Plus. They look fairly similar and he has… 0 615 |