What is the best glass to use to insulate the house?
Did you know that the windows lose heat mainly through the glass? Yes, through the glass surface, which makes up about 70% of your windows, the heat loss can be up to 30%, which means that with a wrong glass can increase the cost to heat or to cool.
But what is the right glass for your home?
I would like to explain you what are the alternatives on the market today and how to choose one that's right for you, so that your new or existing home can be insulated better.
First, the heat loss is greatly reduced with multiple glazing, usually double, or even triple (less frequent).
Double glazing and insulation
It is composed of two glass panes separated by a gap filled with air, said double-glazing. The double glass plate and the air are in fact a more effective barrier to the dispersion of heat. To improve even more the performance of these windows can be fitted vetrocamere that replace the air, which is heat conducting and allows a minimum exchange, the vacuum, it is evacuated glazing (solutions that are made with due care must pocihè be inserted cylinders spacers to prevent tensions on the walls) or some gas, such as argon and krypton, which, being heavier than air (with more protons in their nuclei), slow down the passage of heat from the cold wall to that warmer. The thicknesses are usually of 4-9-4 mm, or 4 mm for both glasses and 9 for the interspace, but you can also find solutions of different measures without that particularly affects on performance.
The quality of the glass
To affect much more than the yield however, is the quality of the glass. So far we have not in fact never talked about the quality of the glass, which is instead a very important aspect. Common ones, such floats, which are currently the most commercialized, are the most dispersive, two types of glass that optimize instead the thermal insulation are the low-emission and selective, which respond well in different situations.
Low-emissivity
The low-emissivity (or low-e) could be called "glazing winter", since, thanks to a very light coating layer of metal oxides, stop the heat loss from the inside outwards, ie stop the infrared radiations, especially at higher wavelength, but allowing the transmission of the visible component of solar radiation from the outside, or better, let pass the light.
Selective
In contrast, the selective glasses while letting pass the light component of solar radiation, reflect infrared radiation at shorter wavelength, often called thermal rays coming from the sun. In this way, shield the entry of heat from the outside, preventing overheating of the interior. Are therefore much used in the facades or large glass surfaces, for shielding the heat input from the outside, facilitate the maintenance of lower temperature inside the house during the summer, while keeping intact the brightness.
What glass then choose to have the same comfort both in summer and winter?
The optimum system consists of a double glass composed of selective glass outwards and low-emissivity inside, with a double glazing containing inert gas or evacuated. This allows double glazing, as well as the most energy efficient and thus savings on heating and cooling, a reduction of cold spots in the room and condensate.
New technologies for restructuring
If you're renovating a historic building, in which the frame must be replaced preserving the original appearance, you can use special glass vacuum, which have the same characteristics of insulation with the thickness of traditional single glazing. Some of these systems also allow the reuse of the traditional frame, if in good condition or repairable. It is very interesting solutions as they offer thermal and acoustic comfort without sacrificing aesthetics.
Have you ever thought to evaluate a window according to the glass using?
Have you thought about what kind of glass would do for you?
15/01/2013
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Translated via software
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Source:
Italian version of ReteIngegneri.it