about a year ago there was a discussion about a new technique in repairing fogged insulated units..
it consisted of drilling a small hole ( or two ) and evacuating the moist air.. injecting some type of gas and then sealing the holes..
anyone know where i can find more information.. or any current knowledge on the state of the art ?
Replies
Mike, Andersen sent a guy to my house two years ago to do just what you said, he used a laser to measure the space between the glass. My problem was condensation in the center of the unit. He drilled a hole in the side of the frame but not into the glass itself. He didn't inject any gas but just let air in then remeasured ,sealed the hole, put the weather strip back on and that was it. It worked for about a year and then they sent me all new casements that I had to install.
Vince Carbone
Vince-Your windows were serviced for collapsed glass. Mike is talking about seal failures. Two different issues.Mike-I remember seeing the procedure for repairing seal failures on the internet, but cannot find it again. A dubious process IMHO. Why not just replace the glass?jocobeView Image
All insulated glass will fail one day. The yesteryear gas of choice to fill insulated units with was argone.... till they figured out it's molecular size was a problem. Andersen did solve the problem but anyone with windows over 5 years old has long since seen the gas return to where it came from.... thin air.
Mike if the windows are fogging the desicant is maxed out, drilling holes and gas filling is not going to solve the problem but merely push off the inevitable. Replace the unit.
jacobe and all... thanks..
we normally just replace the glass.. but the subject keeps comming up so i wanted to see if there had been any advancements
hammer... weathershield is so screwed up as to what they manufactured and when , that it's a real crap shoot as to wether ( no pun ) or not they can even come close with replacement parts... seems they can screw it up no matter what..
sometimes it's the glazing .. sometimes it's the wood profiles.. sometimes it's the exterior cladding..
i've been burned 3 times by trying to service Weathershiled customers.. now i just tell them we're either putting in new units or they can deal with it themselves
anyways... i feel your paneMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
If it is a door, Mike, you may not be able to repair it. Door glass is tempered, and tempered glass doesn't take well to cutting or drilling.
I guess IG replacement is out of the question?
When an insulated glass pane breaks it's seal around the edge you get the fogging. Some widows come with different gasses that have been injected during manufacture, argon is one. You would have to test the seal and fix the break. The fogging causes dirt on the glass and you would not be able to clean the inside faces. You would have to pull out the pane to do the work, so why not just get a new pane. The thing you have to watch is glass color as well as thickness. I've always been able to get new glass from the manufacturers. I just replaced some from Weathershield and they had upgraded the whole system, different glass thickness and seal, new glazing strips to accommodate the new panes. Getting the old glazing strips out usually resulted in broken panes.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
mike somewhere in my favorites,i have their site,but just can't find it. it seems to me that it was nothing but a process of drilling a hole and then inserting a small rubber plug that would let air and moisture escape as needed. i don't remember adding gas to windows. seems that the co. was in canada somewhere, but i could be wrong i forgot what i ate for supper let alone what was on the internet a year ago! lol if i find that site i'll let you no. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.