Double glazing - Swish vs Profile 22

[carlosvr6]

We've just had a quotation from a local company for double glazing and have the choice of Swish or Profile 22 at the same price. They said the only difference between the two was one is more chamfered and one more square. We will be going down to their office soon to take a look.

Which would be the better of the two?

 

[Psycho Sonny]

i thought todays standard was triple glazing tbh.

if i was buying today i wouldn't be looking at double glazing unless you were doing a place up to sell on

 

[a1ex2001]

Profile 22 looks a bit more modern to my eye but choose the one you like best it makes very little difference!

i thought todays standard was triple glazing tbh.

if i was buying today i wouldn't be looking at double glazing unless you were doing a place up to sell on

I think standard might be going a bit far I don't know anyone who has installed triple glazing and a quick google will show you that it is still a very small market in the UK with limited benefits. Thats not to say the OP shouldn't consider it.

I think the Profile 22 looks more modern but I don't think it matters that much just choose the one you like most, what sort of property do you have it's worth considering aluminium instea of UPVC if you want a really crisp modern finish.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

i know i can hear absolutely everything going on outside my home (built in the late 90's). i think my windows are the weak point, done on the cheap by the builders i'd go triple just for the sound insulation alone.

 

[carlosvr6]

It's a victorian mid terrace.

I enquired about triple glazing to reduce noise as we live on a busy main road. The bloke said it would have little effect for the extra cost in price but would be happy to quote.
He said secondary glazing was best for noise reduction.

 

[RoyMi6]

Secondary glazing is also the most impractical and worst looking. It's something I'd only ever consider if I was installing it in the house of my worst enemy.

 

[eviled]

no point having triple glazing in a Victorian terrace, double glazing will be far from the weak point of the house's thermal efficiency.

You have get special acoustic double glazing which will far out perform triple glazing for sound reduction.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Accoustic double glazing is a wider gap between the sheets and a special laminated inner glass.
The glass is typically thinner in triple glazing to help keep the overall thickness down, reports are mixed as to whether you get improvement over double glazing, ranging from none to loads.
If your happy with a thicker window I bet you could spec triple to also include the laminated glass as well (as opposed to 3 normal glass layers)

Personally I would go triple. However, its not as much of a step again as single to double was.
It was explained to me (i think in person but may have been on the web when I was looking a couple of years ago) that double removes the drafts you feel compared to single but you can still feel a "cold area" near the glass, triple removes this cold area.

There was a lot of effort into making double more efficient over the years where as from what i can tell triple lags behind (certainly in the UK) on the tech. But if you read up none of the tech is unique to double its all just as relevant to triple, so if its not being used my suspicion is thats mainly down to the superiority of triple in the first place.

 

[a1ex2001]

Accoustic double glazing is a wider gap between the sheets and a special laminated inner glass.
The glass is typically thinner in triple glazing to help keep the overall thickness down, reports are mixed as to whether you get improvement over double glazing, ranging from none to loads.
If your happy with a thicker window I bet you could spec triple to also include the laminated glass as well (as opposed to 3 normal glass layers)

Personally I would go triple. However, its not as much of a step again as single to double was.
It was explained to me (i think in person but may have been on the web when I was looking a couple of years ago) that double removes the drafts you feel compared to single but you can still feel a "cold area" near the glass, triple removes this cold area.

There was a lot of effort into making double more efficient over the years where as from what i can tell triple lags behind (certainly in the UK) on the tech. But if you read up none of the tech is unique to double its all just as relevant to triple, so if its not being used my suspicion is thats mainly down to the superiority of triple in the first place.

Triple makes the cold area next to a window less noticeable than double it doesn't completely fix it but it will make your more comfortable it will have a tiny impact on your energy bills to the extent that you struggle to realise any financial return on the investment. Modern Double glazing is excellent much better than the old stuff if you want to improve the thermal performance of your house there are almost certainly better options particularly for a Victorian terrace.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Triple makes the cold area next to a window less noticeable than double it doesn't completely fix it but it will make your more comfortable it will have a tiny impact on your energy bills to the extent that you struggle to realise any financial return on the investment. Modern Double glazing is excellent much better than the old stuff if you want to improve the thermal performance of your house there are almost certainly better options particularly for a Victorian terrace.

Yes triple was a comfort thing, and yes it doesnt go away is the general concensus but its noticeably lower. I stood next to a triple when skiing and compared to a double it was a lot more pleasant, I know its a lot colder in these circumstances but to me it shows the difference, its still cold by double glazed windows in that environment, by the triple it was almost insignificant. Its the only time ive seen triple though so no idea if this is as marked in the UK environment in normal conditions.

 

[a1ex2001]

Yes triple was a comfort thing, and yes it doesnt go away is the general concensus but its noticeably lower. I stood next to a triple when skiing and compared to a double it was a lot more pleasant, I know its a lot colder in these circumstances but to me it shows the difference, its still cold by double glazed windows in that environment, by the triple it was almost insignificant. Its the only time ive seen triple though so no idea if this is as marked in the UK environment in normal conditions.

It won't be as noticeable in the uk simply because the temperatures are not so extreme most of the time the outside temperature isn't so low so the drop isn't so great. I believe you are looking at a couple of degrees difference between triple and double glazing when stood practically touching it.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

It won't be as noticeable in the uk simply because the temperatures are not so extreme most of the time the outside temperature isn't so low so the drop isn't so great. I believe you are looking at a couple of degrees difference between triple and double glazing when stood practically touching it.

Ah found the old saved bookmark i had. So the glass temp will be 2 degress higher, not ground breaking, but not insignificant if sitting near

"The physics involved here have been worked out in Germany by the PassivHaus Institute. It has shown what happens to surface temperatures on various forms of glazing when it gets really cold outside, and the internal air temperature is designed to be at 21°C:

• Next to a single glazed window, the internal surface temperature is around 1°C.
• Next to a double glazed window (2000 vintage), the surface temperature is around 11°C.
• Next to a modern, energy-efficient double glazed window, the surface temperature is 16°C.
• Next to a triple glazed window, with a centre-pane U value of just 0.65, the temperature is 18°C."

I do notice that in my home (2007 vintage) its toasty warm and doesnt feel that cold when its cold outside, when it gets really cold outside, so say minus 5 or below it actually feels cold near the windows, particularly the large 3mx2m approx patio doors.
Its not a draft its just the cold from the glass.

The best approach of course is just to brick up the windows

I have heard that some really really well insulated houses can get condensation even on double glazed, something to do with the relative difference between thermal properties of rest of house and windows, not sure if this is true though, could be pub talk

 

[thezappa]

The best approach of course is just to brick up the windows

I have heard that some really really well insulated houses can get condensation even on double glazed, something to do with the relative difference between thermal properties of rest of house and windows, not sure if this is true though, could be pub talk

Not pub talk at all, if there is moisture in the air and no circulation the moisture has to go somewhere.
Interestingly, you say the best thing would be to brick up the windows, I realise you said that tongue in cheek but there is an not insignificant school of thought that says equal efficiency savings can be made by making small changes to the building fabric i.e. Closing draughts, can have just as much effect (and be a lot cheaper) than simply buying new windows, this takes in to account leaving single-glazed windows in place.

 

[liveid]

i know i can hear absolutely everything going on outside my home (built in the late 90's). i think my windows are the weak point, done on the cheap by the builders i'd go triple just for the sound insulation alone.

dont assume triple is better than double, there is a big hole in the noise reduction curve vs frequency caused by the similar pane sizes moving together. Double glazing with a wide gap and one pane thicker than the other will perform better, and much better if one pane is acoustic glass as well.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

• Next to a double glazed window (2000 vintage), the surface temperature is around 11°C.
• Next to a modern, energy-efficient double glazed window, the surface temperature is 16°C.
• Next to a triple glazed window, with a centre-pane U value of just 0.65, the temperature is 18°C."

so i have vintage glazing. i won't replace the glazing unless it's damaged it's pointless spending thousands to save £100 a year.

however if it was to replace it looks like triple would probably be worth it over double as your paying a crapload anyway may as well add on a bit more

 

[eviled]

Centre pane u-value for triple glazing may be .65 but unit u-value will be about 1.0

Double glazing unit u-value will be about 1.3 (30% worse)

Victorian walls will have a u-value of 2.1 and account for the vast majority of room surface area almost completely negating the triple glazed benefit and cost.

 

[carlosvr6]

Anymore opinions regarding the two profiles?

I've seen Profile 22 mentioned in a few other forums but not much on Swish.

 

[Nathan]

We went for profile 22 after my mate who used to be a fitter said it was the one to go for. He said its a really sturdy profile. We re happy. Look great.

 

[Bes]

It's a victorian mid terrace.

I enquired about triple glazing to reduce noise as we live on a busy main road. The bloke said it would have little effect for the extra cost in price but would be happy to quote.
He said secondary glazing was best for noise reduction.

Are you changing the surrounds/ frames etc. the windows sit in? I went from single to double glazing (Had to go narrow profile due to the window frames [didn't want to replace them] and the windows would be too heavy for the sash weights you could actually fit in the frame if we went with really heavy glass/ triple glazing).

I ask as you might not get as much as a noise drop as you expect if you don't replace the frames too. Over time they twist/ bend and small gaps open up. These gaps let an amazing amount of noise through.

 

[carlosvr6]

We've currently got double glazing which is quite old (15+ years). Some of the seals have gone in the windows so we've decided to have it all replaced with new double gazing.

Triple glazing is something I queried when the guy was around too see if there would be any major benefit.

I think we're just going to put in new double glazed windows.