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Hello, All! This is my first time posting on the site. I love the magazine and this site for all the helpful information that is made available. I am a home owner who dreams of building his own house some day.
We live in Iowa and have an indoor pool. The pool is in a room separate from the house and we circulate the heated pool water through the floor to heat the room. The room has 8 windows measuring 3′ x 6′ double pain. The windows seem to be sealed well, but I can’t help but think that I am loosing a lot of heat through the glass even though it is double pain. With winter coming on I am looking for any way possible to save on the propane bill.
I was thinking about putting up a piece of 1/8″ plexi-glass on the inside of each window to add some insulating value. After asking at a couple local hardware stores I was shocked to find out that a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plexi-glass would cost me around $90. I estimate that I will need 8 sheets to do the job. Is $90 reasonable for a sheet of plexi? Are there any better alternatives? I like the idea of being able to see out of the windows.
Thanks for your help.
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Windows are expensive and additions/features for increasing their insulation value are also expensive. Windows give off the most (loss of BTU's) heat of all building components.
If your windows have a solar heat gain factor (southern exposure) and if you have some interior mass to absorb these BTU"s (concrete and water), you can optimize your situation by insulating the windows at the times of day (and nite) they don't add heat.
You can make shutters out of R 10 foam insulation board and put it on the windows at selected times. Adding storm windows would also give you better insulation. Certainly glass storms will be cheaper than plexiglass and will be just as good an insulator. Its the air space created by the added window pane, not the material (eg, glass vs plexiglass), thats important. An added pane of glass will not be nearly as significant a savings as a well insulated shutter or insulated drapery and of course a radiant reflective covering facing back towards the interior.
ONe way to make your buying decision is to work out the current R and U values and BTU losses of window area, and then calculate the $ savings in heating costs by reducing the loss of heat for different configurations (eg; insulation, radiant reflection, storms; etc). You can be pretty well assured that the insulation will have the greatest payback.
Make these calculations for the pool and concrete deck too. You might also want to think about isolating the area from the rest of the house at night; and, using a pool insulation blanket at night.
If I understand your situation, you are not only loosng night time BTU's through this glass from a heated space, you are actually wasting system heat since your heating pool water that is in turn, sending its sensible BTU's to the outdoors by radiation. Sounds expensive. A sheet of 2" XPS, fitted to each window, covered in a fabric for aesthetics, and a radiatnt barrier on the inside would pay for itself real fast. So would a pool blanket.
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Hello, All! This is my first time posting on the site. I love the magazine and this site for all the helpful information that is made available. I am a home owner who dreams of building his own house some day.
We live in Iowa and have an indoor pool. The pool is in a room separate from the house and we circulate the heated pool water through the floor to heat the room. The room has 8 windows measuring 3' x 6' double pain. The windows seem to be sealed well, but I can't help but think that I am loosing a lot of heat through the glass even though it is double pain. With winter coming on I am looking for any way possible to save on the propane bill.
I was thinking about putting up a piece of 1/8" plexi-glass on the inside of each window to add some insulating value. After asking at a couple local hardware stores I was shocked to find out that a 4' x 8' sheet of plexi-glass would cost me around $90. I estimate that I will need 8 sheets to do the job. Is $90 reasonable for a sheet of plexi? Are there any better alternatives? I like the idea of being able to see out of the windows.
Thanks for your help.