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WINDOWS

Don’t Buy 20-Year-Old Windows!
Aluminum or metal spacers have been used for over twenty years to keep the pieces glass apart when making insulated glass. These metal spacers rob your high performance windows of their high performance. It does not matter if your high performance windows have Low E or Heat Mirror“ glass and Argon or Krypton gas. The metal spacer transfers winter’s cold from the outer glass to the inner glass. Companies have tried using Intercept® glass or other "warm edge" designs where part of the metal spacer is cut away or thermally broken. The results are the same – cold still transfers from the outside glass to the inside glass across the metal. This makes the inside glass cold and sweat with condensation.

When buying new windows, choose windows with North Star’s Super Spacer, the only all foam (no metal) insulated glass spacer. North Star windows are designed for Canada’s cold winters.

Homeowners don’t buy aluminum windows. Why would you buy windows with aluminum spacers inside the glass? Metal spacers get cold and make glass sweat. North Star’s Super Spacer windows are warmer.

Understanding warm-edge technology
Today more than ever, homeowners are replacing their old worn out windows with energy efficient replacement windows. In doing so, it is just as important to know what type of window spacer material is being used on the insulating glass unit, as it is to know what type of glass package (or glazing) is going into the window. Yet, today’s homeowner has very little knowledge about what a spacer is and why it is so vitally important to the future life and performance of an insulated window. The type of spacer material in your windows can make or break your investment!

In order to overcome the thermal inefficiency of conventional aluminum spacers, a new type of spacer product has evolved in the industry called "warm-edge technology". Warm-edge refers to the type of spacer material used to separate the panes of glass (or glazing) in an insulated window unit. If the material conducts less heat or cold than a conventional aluminum spacer at the edge of the glass, it is said to be "warm-edge". Most of these newer spacers are less conductive and outperform pure aluminum. But there’s still one small problem – they all contain some kind of metal. And metal is highly conductive.

Think about it – we cook with metal!
Ever wonder why your pots and pans are make of aluminum or stainless steel? These metals are excellent conductors of heat and cold. Truth is, most window manufacturers today use aluminum, or steel plated aluminum spacers to separate the two panes of glass in their double-glazed insulated windows.

Ironic Fact:
Aluminum is a terrible insulator and actually lowers the efficiency of an insulated window unit. In many new windows, heat (or cold) lost at the spacers and window frame is greater than that lost through the glass. (Reprinted from Popular Mechanics)

Why? Because of a basic law of physics: heat rushes to cold. If the edge of the insulated window unit is made with an aluminum spacer, it will naturally be much less efficient at the edges separating the two panes of glass, than it will be at the center of the glass where there is no aluminum – only dead air space.

In comparing center-of-glass and edge-of-glass temperatures, Super Spacer combined with Low-E glass is clearly the leader in performance. Super Spacer edge-of-glass temperatures are 14 degrees warmer than identical glass units with aluminum spacers. The colder edge-of-glass temperature also lowers the center-of-glass temperature on the same insulated glass unit by 7 degrees as compared to Super Spacer. The metal at the edge of the glass unit makes the glass most vulnerable to heat and cooling loss, condensation and frosting. It just makes sense to have a spacer system that is tested to be the most resistant to conductivity. It makes sense to get windows that are edge-sealed with Super Spacer!

What is Super Spacer and How Does it Work?
To understand how Super Spacer works so well, you have to understand how it’s made. Super Spacer is the only foam, no-metal spacer on the market today. Unlike other so-called "warm" edge seal spacers that contain steel or aluminum wrapped in butyl rubber, Super Spacer is made of structured foam. This material consists of an integral desiccant that contains millions of tiny air pockets that have been shown to conduct heat (and cold) at a rate over 950 times lower than aluminum and 85 times less than stainless steel! Super Spacer is true warm-edge, designed to last for lifetime.

Super Spacer is a thermoset seal, which means that it will expand and contract, but it will always maintain its structural integrity by returning to its original shape. This is very important when you realize that windows are constantly exposed to temperature changes, UV ray bombardment, barometric pressure changes and wind load. Other rigid spacers containing metal do not allow for the natural expansion and contraction that must occur in the insulated glass unit to offset the effects of these pressures on the glass. The results are stress cracks that eventually lead to seal failure. North Star’s Warranty on seal failure is better because of Super Seal spacer.

Tell tale signs of seal failure are condensation and frosting. With insulated windows that use aluminum spacers, seal failure is almost inevitable. Super Spacer edge-seal systems virtually eliminate the transmission of heat, cold, and moisture through your windows.

Another important aspect of the Super Seal edge-seal system is that Super Spacer is applied to the window glass with the same high-performance acrylic adhesive bonding agent that is actually specified for the space shuttle by NASA. This, along with the structural foam, creates the primary seal in the insulating glass unit. A secondary seal is then applied to the unit, usually consisting of hot-melt butyl rubber, to form layers of vapor barriers that make it virtually impossible for moisture to penetrate the seal. This dual-seal system has more than 5 times the life expectancy of a single seal system!

Keeping Argon Gas Inside Your Window
To keep your windows high performance, argon gas must remain inside the glass. In addition to being a good insulator Super Spacer because it is a tape-like spacer is one of the best types to retain argon gas. This happens because there are no corners. With conventional metal spacers, corner keys are used to join the spacer at each of the four corners. As the unit continuously expands and contracts, corner keys can work themselves loose. Without a tight corner, argon will leak out. But then another problem occurs when argon leaks out. Argon will leak out faster than oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide (air) can re-enter the insulating glass unit to replace it. This results in negative pressure inside the unit, causing glass deflection, which, in turn, causes visible distortion. The insulated glass unit will begin imploding, causing a distorted, blurry view. Glass deflection also leads to a reduced thermal performance of the unit as the effective airspace between the two lites of glass is decreased. Not only do you lose the initial thermal advantage of having argon in the unit, but also you will end up having a window with a U-value worse than the same window made without argon. The glass deflection also has other adverse effects. It puts stress on the sealant/glass bondline interface, which can lead to premature unit failure. It also puts stress on the glass, which can lead to stress cracks, possibly resulting in insulated glass failure.

North Star has designed a window that is better insulated to reduce heat and cold transmission across the glass by eliminating aluminum spacers with the non-metal structural foam Super Spacer. It is also made more durable using the continuous tape-like features of Super Spacer.

A window is not a window. There is a difference in how windows are made. You don’t have to pay more to get the DuHadway advantage.