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| Just got new double pane replacement windows from Home Depot. It rained lightly last night and this morning 3 of them were fogged and were still that way when I left for work almost 2 hours later. One fogged completely, a perfect rectangle of fog surrounded by about 2" of unfogged window all around the perimiter.Weird. 2 others fogged along the bottom with that same 2" of unfogged area.
We had 12 windows redone and I should clarify we have sliding windows and it's only the non-sliding side of the 3 that fogged. The sliding sides with the screens are not fogged. All are in the same room and so far these are the only ones replaced on that side of the house which is typically the side that the rain falls towards the windows, but rain is usually light as it was last night. I think they're fogged on the outside rather than between, but the 25 year old double panes I had before this never fogged. I live in San Diego so it's not like it's freezing outside and very warm inside and besides, I wouldn't think that should happen anyway with energy rated double panes?? Maybe by the time I get home from work they will unfog, but still don't think that's normal and how annoying to not be able to see clearly out new windows! So before I call Home depot can someone please advise me if it is normal or not and why they're doing this?
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Im guessing this is the east facing side of your house and the problem is early in the morning. If the fogging or condensation is on the exterior of the outer pane, this is normal and indicates your windows are operating normally. The reason this happens is because the glass get much cooler at night on the new windows than with the old because the heat is not transferring from inside your house to the outside as readily. When the sun comes up the warm rays hit the cooler glass causing it to warm up quickly and the surrounding air reaches it dew point causing moisture in the air to accumulate on the glass. It should dissapate within an hour or so as the glass warms up. This will occur occasionally at different times of the year when you have cooler nights and warmer days. Usually in the Spring and Fall. Again, it indicates your windows are working correctly. |
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| +1 skydawggy absolutely normal, no cause for concern at all |
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- Posted by desertwest (My Page) on Sat, Feb 19, 11 at 10:14
| I noticed the same thing after I got new windows and panicked but then saw it was on the outside, not between the panes. As the others here say, it is normal. Low-E coatings can make it worse: http://www.rlcengineering.com/win_cond.htm In cases where the inside temperature is below the outside temperature, a Low-E coating will allow the outside glass temperature to drop to about the same as that of an inefficient window. In cases where the outside air is colder than the inside temperature, a Low-E coating allows the outside glass to get even colder. Therefore under the right conditions, windows with Low-E coatings can develop more summer condensation than inefficient windows. |
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| Thank you all for the info, explaination, and website. As you can see from my post I thought just the opposite: the temp diff between 2 panes of well insulated low E glass seperated by a layer of gas, air, whatever it is, wouldn't register. I get it now. I ended up putting a call in to Home Depot before these responses, (dying to know) and the project manager told me he called the company and both agreed it's normal, but a little unusual here because of our mild climate. Also we have our thermostat set back to 60 degrees at night and I noticed the fogging before the heat kicked in so again, unusual. Project manager added he's had a few customers call with the same question. Most had it happen a couple of times when first installed and then the fogging never happened again and a few had it repeatedly happen and they replaced the glass with no further problems. So we'll see what happens. Happy to know it's supposedly normal, but if reoccurs with little temp change or only rain they will replace. Hope that isn't necessary! Thanks again! |
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| What would they replace it with? The only thing that would prevent it from re-ocuring would be less efficient glass. |
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| I'm a little confused by that too. Saying it's normal, but also saying others have only had fogging occur a couple of times when first installed and others had it repeatedly occuring and resolved when replaced with new window of the same is a bit of a condradiction. What was odd was the perfect symmetry of the fogged area, like a smaller perfectly cut frosted glass was layed over the center. Also odd that last night it poured rain was much cooler out and warmer in and no fogging. Beats me. |
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