Thermopane Seal Failure
Two important questions people often ask us are:
1) What is a thermopane (aka insulated glass unit or I.G.U.)
2) What is a seal failure?
Seal failure means foggy, unsightly windows, and it costs you money.
To understand seal failure you must understand how a thermopane is built. Construction of a thermopane unit requires two pieces of glass, a spacer band, desiccant (drying agent), and sealant (glue). First, the glass is cut to the required size and cleaned. Then a spacer band is cut to the required size and filled with desiccant. The two pieces of glass are then laminated together, separated by the spacer band. Finally, the edge sealant is applied which creates an air tight seal. You now have a thermopane which provides a thermal-break, thus an insulating factor (R-Value).
1) What is a thermopane (aka insulated glass unit or I.G.U.)
2) What is a seal failure?
Seal failure means foggy, unsightly windows, and it costs you money.
To understand seal failure you must understand how a thermopane is built. Construction of a thermopane unit requires two pieces of glass, a spacer band, desiccant (drying agent), and sealant (glue). First, the glass is cut to the required size and cleaned. Then a spacer band is cut to the required size and filled with desiccant. The two pieces of glass are then laminated together, separated by the spacer band. Finally, the edge sealant is applied which creates an air tight seal. You now have a thermopane which provides a thermal-break, thus an insulating factor (R-Value).
Now that you have a basic understanding of how a thermopane (I.G.U.) is constructed, you can start to understand what a seal failure is. In the words of Dr. Andreas T. Wolf, scientist for Dow Corning in Germany: “An I.G.U. has reached the end of its service life, when moisture condensation (fogging) occurs within the inter-pane space. Fogging is caused by the diffusion of water vapor through the edge seal and the resulting saturation of the desiccant.” In layman’s terms it means that the glue has let go of the glass and is now allowing air inside the thermopane.
The result of this failure is that the insulating factor (R-Value) is greatly reduced, and it is time to have it replaced.