Higher performance thermal insulation glass is becoming more and more popular as demanding environmental and legislative needs increase.
For applications where highly efficient thermal insulation glazing is required, the occurrence of condensation can be a problem, especially in the spring and autumn months. New Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass is designed to prevent the onset of condensation and improve the view through your windows.
Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass is specially developed to prevent the onset of condensation on high performance thermal insulation glazing.
Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass is suitable for a wide variety of commercial and domestic applications in combination with other energy-efficient glass products such as those from the Pilkington K Glass™ and Pilkington Optitherm™ Ranges.
Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass is an on-line, low-e coated product manufactured in 4 mm thickness in LES and Jumbo sizes. It is robust and easy to clean. Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass is easy to handle and process and can be laminated, toughened, bent and incorporated into IGUs.
Note: This is an external coating therefore please check our handling and processing guidelines for glazing details and cleaning requirements.
Benefits
Pilkington Anti-condensation Glass offers following benefits:
- improves the view through the window,
- keeps IGUs clearer for longer,
- minimises the incidence of condensation,
- achieves high light transmittance for triple glazed units (68%),
- robust and easy to handle,
- easy to process: can be laminated, toughened and bent,
- provides high level thermal insulation whilst at the same time reducing the amount of heat lost through the window (as IGU),
- incorporated into IGUs it may be used in combination with other thermally efficient glass products such as those from the Pilkington K Glass™ and Pilkington Optitherm™ ranges.
Brochures
External condensation
From time to time, we receive enquiries about the appearance of external condensation on glass. This is a naturally occurring phenomenon which is more prevalent the more highly insulating your windows are and is not a fault in the glass or window.
Moisture condenses out of the air onto a cold surface that is said to be below the dew point. The dew point varies with the air temperature and the amount of moisture it contains. Particularly in spring and autumn, the glass temperature can fall to a low level during the night and the dew point can be comparatively high in these seasons. The glass temperature can be below the dew point under these conditions and moisture can condense onto the surface.
In order to save energy, maintain a comfortable internal environment and satisfy building regulations requirements, the windows we fit in our homes are much more thermally efficient than in the past. With single glazing and older style double glazing, a large proportion of heat was lost to the outside through the glass. With modern low emissivity glass, more of the heat is kept inside and the outer pane is not heated as much.
The more thermally insulating the glass is, the lower the outer pane temperature is likely to be and the greater the risk of condensation on the external surface. In northern European countries, where levels of thermal insulation are higher than in the UK, the phenomenon is understood and accepted.
There is not much that can be done to avoid the risk of condensation to the outside. In many cases the condensation does not last long. A little heat from the sun warms the outer glass enough to evaporate the moisture and a gentle breeze or wind will help.
Those people who have fitted Pilkington Activ™ self-cleaning glass may also notice that they get fewer occurrences. Pilkington Activ™ is as prone to condensation as any other glass, but the properties of this product means it does not allow the water to form beads on the surface of the glass. So you tend not see the effect to the same degree.
You may notice that not all of the panes are affected by early morning condensation, even in the same window. Subtle differences in orientation and the position of objects outside the window can change the surface temperature of the glass to the point that one pane suffers and another does not. Any object such as a canopy or tree blocking off the window to a clear night sky will also reduce the effect.
The plus point is the knowledge that your windows are keeping the heat in as they are designed to do, proving that you have a superior insulating glass product.
Pilkington Anti-Condensation Glass offers a solution which prevents the onset of external condensation and improves the view through windows. It is used on the outer pane of the double glazed unit. It provides a second low-emissivity glass which is designed to delay the onset of external condensation and hence improve the view through the window.