U value vinyl doublepane window10/29/2022 ![]() #U VALUE VINYL DOUBLEPANE WINDOW WINDOWS#division in Washington, D.C., offers all-wood and aluminum-clad wood windows with R-values up to about 10. Intus, a Lithuania-based manufacturer that recently set up a U.S. “One solution does not fit all,” he notes. ![]() Intus, he says, specializes in high-performance windows that cater to any region of the country. Managing director Aurimas Sabulis says the problem with most window companies is that their products aren’t versatile enough to be effective throughout the United States. R-5 windows are the lowest-performing product that Intus Windows offers. The company, for its part, produces some of the highest-performing products on the market, including fiberglass and vinyl products that range anywhere from R-5.9 to R-11.1. Surace says all windows should perform no lower than R-5, but he believes R-7 should (and will) be the standard. “But I am thinking, 140 years later, and we call that energy efficient?” So in 1870, they were truly best of class,” Serious Energy’s president and CEO Kevin Surace has said publicly. “Dual-pane windows were invented back in 1865. Serious Energy, for example, has taken the industry to task for not making more far-reaching advancements in energy performance and for being content with traditional low-E products. Some critics say R-5 windows are still behind the times, especially because the technology is available to produce a window with a much higher performance rating. Sunnyvale, Calif.–based Serious Energy and Marvin Windows and Doors in Warroad, Minn., among many others. ![]() Other manufacturers include Bayport, Minn.–based Andersen Windows and Doors Klamath Falls, Ore.–based Jeld-Wen Gorell Enterprises in Indiana, Pa. Ply Gem isn’t the only company producing ultra high-efficiency products. By increasing the R-value from 3 to 5, average heat loss through the window is reduced by 30 percent to 40 percent.” Designed for new construction and replacement projects, the windows can achieve a U-factor as low as 0.15. “As a comparison, Energy Star–rated windows typically hold an R-value of 3. “Windows with an R-value of 5 are some of the most energy-efficient windows commercially available in the U.S.,” the company said at the time of the launch. ![]() The windows are usually twice as efficient as double-pane units and some narrow the performance gap between the opening and the wall on which they’re installed.Įarlier this year, Ply Gem Windows in Cary, N.C., unveiled the R-5 Series, the company’s version of a high-efficiency window. In recent years, a new breed of windows-the so-called ultra high-efficiency products-has been gaining traction and things have gotten quite interesting. Still, the best double-pane window is inadequate compared to the exterior wall. Depending on your region of the country, such a window-if it’s Energy Star rated-has a U-factor (the rate of heat transfer and an indication of how well the window insulates) of 0.30 to 0.60 and a solar heat gain coefficient (which indicates how well the window blocks heat caused by sunlight) of 0.27 to 0.40. A vast improvement over a single pane, insulated windows are better at preventing heat loss and heat gain, keeping the internal temperature of a house relatively stable. The standard today is a double-glazed low-E window with insulation between the panes. According to single-glazed windows with clear glass allow “the highest transfer of energy (i.e., heat loss or heat gain depending on local climate conditions) while permitting the highest daylight transmission.” No wonder such windows are practically extinct in residential architecture. ![]() Traditionally, windows have been the weakest energy efficiency link in a building envelope, and early single-pane openings were the most egregious offenders. ![]()
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