Low-E Glass on Greenhouses

2 years ago

Right now I have a wood frame greenhouse structure with double wall polycarbonate panels. I heat it all winter with a natural gas heater here in Wisconsin.

I’m moving this spring and will be building a new wood frame greenhouse. Instead of polycarbonate for the walls, I wanted to use the Jeld-Wen 36x60 inch windows in the walls. However I see they are low-E glass. I would still use polycarbonate for the roof since I don’t trust glass up there on a pitch. Would the low-E windows affect plant growth or the ability for the sun to warm my greenhouse? If so, where can I get double hung windows that aren’t low-E?

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Comments (8)

oberon476
2 years ago
https://www.cardinalcorp.com/source/pdf/TGG_V3.0_Final_11-20-2020.pdf

Look at page 29 for discussion of plant growth and LowE coatings
Janet Kupchick
2 years ago
dear oberon,

your knowledge is so clear and helpful.

I am looking into replacement window guidelines for a condo development in Palm Springs, units face mostly W.-SW-S. Are there specifications for tints of Low-e that are more in a gray range that you are aware of?

thanks!
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@WoW Washington That makes sense. I went to your website and couldn't find a list of brands you sell. I'm looking for aluminum framed sliding windows with narrow sightlines. I'm aware of the uber luxury windows by Vitrocsa, Styline, and Skyframe, and their frames are about 1" thick. Gorgeous. But of course, the prices are as much as my entire home cost. I'm wondering if there's a narrow frame out there, maybe 2" thick, from a more economical standpoint. Milgard and Andersen are thicker than that. What brands do you sell on your site that have the narrowest frames, could you share? It's funny because I live in a old, modest beach house in Florida that JUST SO HAPPENS to have come with super narrow 1.5" frames. Even on my 6' x 5' sliding window. The frame is just 1.5" thick. Love it! But the company went out of buisness.
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Low-E is actually more sophisticated. Different rating are designed for different areas of the country. In CA, they even sell different rating base on where you live and your requirements. We have lived with low-E now in SF Bay region for 3+ years and we can share our experience. If cost is a real concern, then you may have no choice. If you can afford the cost but just want to be sure you are buying something worthwhile, then I suggest the following. Ignore the cost, and pretend you are buying low-E. Then consider where and how low-E can be applied to your home. How it may change usage of certain areas in your house. How lighting may change, how curtain or window treatments may change. Do a compare and contrast. When all is done, you can bring in the cost factor and see if the gain is worth the cost of low-E. We have a bank of French doors facing SW and a bank of large Casement facing S. in the winter, the sun is low enough to shine right at these doors and windows. It heats the house to about 70 by noon, from 60 at sunrise. It warms to 75 by 4PM and begins to cool at sunset. It drops down to 69-F by 9PM. When a winter high pressure settles over CA, it can get hot enough inside that we open windows to cool off the house. We never run our heater on sunny winter days. On cloudy days, we have to run our heater but it runs short and heats up fast. The house maintains its warmth easily due to low-E. All this, without any curtain or window treatment. We looked at low-E in 1991 and it cost $450 extra per window so we did nothing. We lived with our old Aluminum dbl-pane clear window. We spent $6000 on exterior solar shade and another $3000 on interior Hunter Douglas triple cell blinds. We thought that would address the heat and cold problem. The reality was the house was dark and gloomy on hot summer days and yet it baked to 80 and 85 and the A/C cannot keep up. The house was also dark and gloomy in the winter and yet it routinely dropped to 50-F and we had to run the heater all day. And lights are on year in and year out because the blinds and shade are always drawn. We did that for 10 years and it was horrible and foolish in hind sight. Now, natural light comes in all year, the house is bright and airy and we rarely run our A/C and only run our heater on cloudy days. Good luck in your analysis.
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LoE-270 has a visible light transmission of 70%. LoE-366 has a visible light transmission of 66%. But with just a loss of 4% of visible light you gain: U Factor: LoE-270 is .37, LoE-366 is .24 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC): LoE-270 is .37, LoE-366 is .27 All values are for the glass ONLY, the whole window will carry different values. Unless you are trying to gain more heat through passive solar heating in the winter, the 366 is a great choice. I did a simple 40"x78" casement and the upcharge was about $40. They also offer a LoE-340 glass. This is the "Turtle Glass" from coastal areas and significantly reduces the visible light (40%). I only use this as an alternative to tinted glass. "Turtle Glass" is required to prevent hatching turtle from going toward shore vs. the ocean. Make sure you don't get the wrong LoE-3! Excellent choice in window brand!
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Do you have a style that is already present in the home? Anything will work, but something with a color in it will likely minimize the appearance of the greenish hue. I will also add that while some customer do note the appearance of the float glass green, most admit that they don't notice it after about 2-3 weeks.
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oberon476
2 years ago
Hi Janet,

What replacement companies are you looking at using?

If it's available from the company you choose, I would suggest asking about Cardinal's Quad LoE-452+. It has great low-solar-gain and U factor performance numbers in a neutral gray color.
Tim Gonyo
Original Author
2 years ago
What if I want something that lets a lot of light and heat in?
oberon476
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Then it depends on what you want for energy performance.

If you want maximum light and heat then a single sheet of clear glass will work best in that application, of course it will also allow all that heat to escape as soon as the outdoor temp drops below the inside temp and there is no sunlight on the glass.

But adding a second layer of glass plus either a single silver LowE coating such as LoE-180 or else a hardcoat will allow maximum (LowE coated) light and heat gain plus it will help keep some of that heat inside the greenhouse when the sun isn't shining.

You can go to any big box and order windows without a LowE coating, or else look in a restore or salvage shop for older windows. Most of them will probably be single pane however.

What part of Wisconsin is home?
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
IMO low E glass is used to control heat so why not look at prefab green houses instead and then the decision is made and BTW I prefer a metal framed green house to avoid the issues with moisture and wood. I live where it gets cold in the winter so most greenhouses here are closed for the winter since heating is expensive . I have no idea what you grow in the winter in Wisconsin . I would need more info as to planting zone where you are . I lve in Zone 5-6 in Canada and to het a greenhouse all winter would cost more that if I just bought veggies in the winter . We can usually use the green house starting in early March with no additional heat
Tim Gonyo
Original Author
2 years ago
I grow Tropicals. Not a veggie grower
oberon476
2 years ago
That's why I asked what part of Wisconsin you are from. It's colder in the northwest than it is in the southeast (especially closer to the lake) so that would be a possible consideration for what you need.

I can't imagine trying to grow tropical anything in Wisconsin without a lot of supplemental heat.

Low-E Glass on Greenhouses

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Low-E Glass on Greenhouses

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