Conservatory technology

Glass

K-glass, Low-E glass, Self-clean, Toughened, Laminated, Re-flex, Argon-filled, Obscured, Float.

Phew!!

Where to start?

Your conservatory is basically a glass box so you should know a bit about the glass, right?

Right!

Low-E glass

K-glass is Pilkington's own proprietory brand of low-E glass, others are Planitherm, Ariplak and NeutraliteTM, these are every bit as good as K-glass, some are even better.

Low-E glass is the new standard in houses and conservatories, you should make sure that you are getting it in the walls and roof (if it's a glass roof).

Basically low-E glass reduces the amount of heat escaping from inside through the glass units of your conservatory.

Low-E units must face the right way round, they come with a sticker on one side to ensure that they are fitted correctly, ask your installer to show you one of these stickers if you're in any doubt.

On some low-E glass a slight tint is evident (Pilkington K-glass particularly), this is due to the thin metallic film that covers one side of the glass and is not abnormal.

Self-clean glass is a new glass technology that actually Helps to clean itself!

What amazing times we live in!

Can this be true?

Yes, it is. There are variations available from most of the big glass manufacturers. The following examples are all links to each manufacturers self-cleaning glass webpage.

PPG SunClean,

SGG Bioclean,

Pilkington's Activ,

SGG Aquaclean,

AFG Radiance Ti,

So, how does it work?

Like low-E glass, self-cleaning glass is a property applied during the manufacturing process in the form of a microscopic coating.

It uses the suns rays to break down and loosen organic dirt and also stop water that falls onto the glass from forming droplets, causing the water to 'sheet' evenly over the glass.

This sheeting action helps to flush the surface clean and to accelerate drying, leaving the glass with minimal spotting and streaking.

Isn't technology wonderful?

Toughened & Laminated glass

• impact
• fracture
• shattering or
• fire

Toughened and Laminated glass are both what is known as 'Safety Glass'. It is normally (and indeed it must be) fitted in areas of danger such as doors, and windows close to the floor, where there is a danger of injury from falling against it. Both 'break safely'.

Toughened glass is heated and cooled (tempered) during manufacturing which makes it harder to break than normal float glass. When it does break, it shatters into very small pieces which cannot cause serious injury. Laminated glass is actually two sheets of glass with a clear film sandwiched in-between. When this is broken it stays in place, still stuck to the inner film.

Your new windows/doors should automatically have Safety Glass where it is legally required by Building Regulations. This will normally be toughened glass, which is cheaper to produce than laminated glass. It is not necessary to fit it elsewhere.

Sometimes laminated glass is used for very large panes because it can be produced in larger sizes than toughened. Laminated glass is sometimes considered to be better purely from a security viewpoint because, although it breaks more easily, it stays in place.

Bear in mind that if laminated glass is put into opening windows, or doors, it is much heavier than toughened glass and will produce much more 'wear and tear' on the hinges.

Our thanks to You Choose for that information.

'RE-FLEX' glass is a unique high tech performance roof glass for conservatory installation which will keep your conservatories cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Argon-filled

If you are looking for the ultimate in glass insulated units you should seriously consider adding "gas" or Argon filled units to your specification.

Argon combined with Low-E glass is just about as good as it gets in terms of insulation.

We are now talking as good as or better than most brick built extensions in terms of insulation. Not particularly expensive in my experience (only £10 -£15 per sealed unit in the UK) and well worth the extra expense.

Please note, I only really recommend Argon filled units when combined with "K" or Low E glass. On its own the benefits are only marginal.

Thanks to Windows Today for that explanation.

Obscured glass

As the name suggests this is glass which is obscured, i.e. is not totally clear.

The obscuration is normally in the form of a pattern, nice leaves, ripples, etc.

All glass manufacturers have a range of obscured glass, the standard is Pilkington's range, most of the others produce clones of this.

Float glass

Float glass is the standard glass that is used for glazing in houses, conservatories, etc.

It will break normally and therefore must be replaced with safety glass where appropriate.

It is called 'Float' due to the manufacturing process.

The raw materials (silica sand, calcium, oxide, soda and magnesium) are properly weighted and mixed and then introduced into a furnace where they are melted at 1500° C.

The molten glass then flows from the glass furnace into a bath of molten tin in a continuous ribbon.

The glass, which is highly viscous, and the tin, which is very fluid, do not mix and the contact surface between these two materials is perfectly flat.

When it leaves the bath of molten tin the glass has cooled down sufficiently to pass to an annealing chamber called a lehr. Here it is cooled at controlled temperatures, until it is essentially at room temperature.

Thanks to Glass On Web for that desription.

In a nutshell, you should be getting low-E glass and, if you're prepared to pay a little more, self-cleaning glass sounds too good to miss.

Get your installer to show you the labels, though. You will have a great deal of difficulty distinguishing the difference otherwise.