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Low-E high solar gain windows.

17 years ago

I plan on building my house with plenty of south facing windows for passive solar heat in winter. I will have a 3 foot overhang on the south side of the house causing full shade over the south windows in summer while allowing full sun in during the winter. I live in Wisconsin.

I want high solar heat gain windows with a Low-E coating. The trouble is I can't find windows with this type of glass.

Does anybody know of manufacturers who use this kind of glass?

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (4)

oberon476
17 years ago
I won't be specific about window companies, but I will say that most of the LowE manufactured for residential applications in North America comes from Cardinal.

The Cardinal LoE-178 is their high solar gain product.

First, ask the window companies that you are considering if they use Cardinal LowE coatings - if so, then tell them that you want to specify the 178 in your windows.

Cardinal has a number of manufacturing plants in Wisconsin, perhaps you are close to one of them?
mike35
17 years ago
You may be challenged to get that glass. While Cardinal is probably still capable of supplying it, if you're not buying a significant quantity, it may be a very significant upcharge. You can try calling Cardinal, to see if it's still made, and who is using it. They should be able to tell you if it's still being used commercially.
Cardinal's plants serve different purposes. Some make float glass, others do coatings or tempering, etc. So you are probably better off calling.
We worked on a school in Maine that required an older Cardinal glass, LoE2-170. Even for such a large project, the upcharge was staggering.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cardinal Glass
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The coating is very durable. They do advise you not to scrap the glass, or use an abrasive cleaner on the outside. The coating requires sunlight to activate it, so if you have windows in shady areas, they will not perform as well as windows getting sunlight, when it comes to reducing water spots. But the coating has no effect on the windows energy performance. So even if it did wear off in 10 or 15 years, the glass would still maintain it's energy efficiency. And since there is no upcharge for it, why not take it? As for appearance, you cannot notice any difference. I have combined units with and without the coating during the initial product changeover, and you cannot tell, unless you spray water on them. As for mitigating UV rays and sound, if you read carefully, they compare the UV reduction to regular double pane glass without LowE, and the sound level compared to single pane glass. Having done several jobs with the Woodwright, I know you'll be happy with your selection.
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earthwormies, Heat enters and leaves thru your windows in three different ways - conduction, radiation, and convection. When dealing with west-facing windows that are cooking you when the sun is shining on them your primary concern is radiation. You need to block the direct solar gain. Solar Heat Gain Coefficient or SHGC represents the percentage of solar heat that is directly passed (radiated) thru your window when the sun is shining directly on it. The lower the number the less direct solar heat gain. In your case you need a very low SHGC number. When the windows arrived they should have had an NFRC tag on the glass that listed the SHGC (as well as U-value and other ratings). Do you still have the tags or did anyone note what the ratings were? Using argon, or krypton, or any other gas between the two lites of glass does nothing to block solar heat gain; you need a low solar heat gain LowE coating to block radiant heat. I am very curious about Window World's claim that they couldn't gas-fill one window because it was too big? How big is that window? Do you know if your windows were manufactured using LowE glass?
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These are NFRC (National Fenestration Rating Council) stickers. I believe the window has to be tested to carry a lower than default value. I think the SHGC of .55 is a default value so the other products with the lower number have been tested and the .55 products or sizes have not. Oberon would probably be able to answer this better.
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Michael
17 years ago
Cardinal is popular, but take the time to study the ClimaGuard SPF by Guardian. They have a facility in MI, but they ship worldwide.

You have choices!

Michael
oberon476
17 years ago
Good points Mike and Michael...

A recent industry report that I read indicated that Cardinal supplies something like 45 of the largest 50 window companies with their LowE coatings...and a solid majority of the smaller guys as well. My thinking was that if rswojo0 was buying a coated window, there was a pretty good chance that it would have a Cardinal coating on it...so I passed info on the specific coating designed for high solar gain.

Obviously, if rswojo0 wants to buy a window from company "A" and even if they have Cardinal coatings, they may not offer that specific version...and of course there are other coatings available as well. rswojo0 or any other consumer may have to work a bit to find the specific product that they want.

Mike, I like the idea of contacting Cardinal and simply asking them if they have info on what window companies offer the high solar gain coating..and the same applies to Guardian as well...and as you said, Cardinal does have plants that make glass, temper it, coat it, laminate it, IG it, probably just about anything else that comes to mind as well! Coating factories are called CG for "Coated Glass" (clever, eh?)

Have a great day all!

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