Window Factory Tour: Fiberglass, UPVC, Inert Gas Fill, and Low-E Coatings

For season 2 of 'Home Diagnosis' we visited the Alpen High Performance Window factory in Colorado. Big thanks to Alison Ray for showing us around, and you can see a lot more about these in the playlist of the construction of our home in Atlanta:
homediagnosis.tv/atlanta-home...
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[@rjincontro]

I have Alpen windows and love them. I highly recommend them.

[@AdityaMehendale]

Alison Ray seems very knowledgeable on the nitty-gritty of coatings and Low-E - It would be a nice to have a deep-dive on the subject with them! :)

[@gregcorwin8316]

Although overall a great tour and some really good information, several of her claims concerning LowE glass were not entirely accurate.

[@Fedgery007]

Very cool! So how long until the window fails and the gas leaks out?

[@HomePerformance]

Depends on how nice your window is- cheap vinyl, less than 10 years often. These, a very long time.

[@mycool8980]

Would love to see this but with vacuum insulated glass n security films

[@tullgutten]

Doubt anyone make vacuum glass vindows as the force would crush the glass and frame even before leaving the factory unless it is several inches thick solid glass.
A window with 4 m2 glass would have 4000kg force on each side or 8000kg for both sides pressing against each other.
That is like having 2 cars on ech side on the window

[@mycool8980]

@@tullgutten buddy this is already a proven technology. It's actually much slimmer than these gas filled ones which make vacuum insulated glass perfect for restoration projects cuz you could just glaze them in.
Only down sound is these tiny dots they use to keep the two panels separate.
I just haven't seen the manufacturer process.

[@tullgutten]

@@mycool8980 had to google it and you are right.
But every 2cm in any direction they have support pillars too keep the glass panels from crushing towards each other and that will give many hundreds of little dots in the window.
Great for insulation where you don't need high clarity window but i doubt anyone would like this for a large panorama view window

[@tullgutten]

@@mycool8980 but also most say they are 2mm thicker than regular double pane window and the glass panels itself are thicker so weighing a lot more an all i see have a large vacuum port in one of the corners

[@mycool8980]

@@tullgutten yeah those dots can be noticable when you 5ft or closer but pretty much disappear further away. Kinda wondered why they use black ones not clear. But it's way less intrusive than the multiple panels you'd need to use to get the same performance imo.
But it's difficult in manufacturing is why id love to see the process

[@aldoogie824]

Are those still nail on?

[@HomePerformance]

Yes, but I like screws better for this

[@BenWolkWeiss]

I believe Alpen offers a clip option if you prefer that instead of a nail fin.

[@jimmyphilip2340]

Upvc=Vinyl ?

[@jimmyphilip2340]

Is the 2 pane with mylar film better/cheaper than the 3 pane ?

[@HomePerformance]

Not quite, vinyl windows are straight up PVC, and warp quickly in the sun (10 years). uPVC is more durable.