I'm looking to upgrade the windows in my house and I would appreciate an opinion as to whether it is worth the extra expense to have Argon in them.
What I'm looking at is the Vinyl widows from home Depot and I live in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Your help will be appreciated.
It is good, but in the past these windows tended to break the seal and the argon gas leaked out. I'd probably do it with a long warranty (>20 years) against leakage.
it is worth it, but as the other poster said , get a warranty from a good company, like Pella
My windows came from another BORG but Home Depot now carries the same brand, so could be the same brand as you are looking at or a different brand than here in the northwest. There wasn't much difference in cost between argon and no argon. Although one of my windows does not have argon, I can't perceptually tell any difference after 2 years. Performance rating of the argon type is only slightly higher than non argon. In any case, my understanding is that argon is known to leak out after a few years. If you want argon get argon. But, don't pay a premium for a window supposedly guaranteed for a long period. Double pain windows (argon or no) routinely fail after 15-20 years. Failure rate for cheaper brands such as the BORGs sell is not likely to be much different than all but the highest rated (and very expensive) window. Personally I would get all of the options including argon.
One word of caution. Look the windows over very carefully before taking them home and when you get the windows home, look each window over very carefully again for scratches. You will find that store people can be rather casual about handling glass and some windows have bad scratches which may be difficult to see. You want to catch those and take them back to the store for replacement before you install them. After installation, the sliding or moving parts of the window are easily changed if you can get the store to do it, but the not moving parts are much more difficult and you could end up with appearance defects even if a professional changes them.
Good luck
Lewis Campbell wrote:
Thanks for the opinions.
I should have added that the brand of windows is:-
Lewis.
Have you looked at other options or at basic research?
In Charleston SC, Special low E coatings seem to do well.
TB
How can one check if argon leaked out?
Actually, if any multi-pane window leaks, you will see fogging on the inside. Then the only thing you can do is replace the window glass--not cheap!
If the seal goes and it leaks out, it will be replaced by normal atmospheric "air" which contains moisture. When it gets cold the moisture will condense and be visible on the glass inside the (formerly) sealed pane .
Hi, How replacing a glass will fix it? You mean sealed inserts? Most units come with 5-10 years warranty. They just replace whole unit if it fails within the warranty period. Again, same here, "You get what you pay for" My 10 year old house has those windows in metal clad. One leaked right after we moved in, it was damaged during installation which was not noticed. They replaced it on warranty pronto at no cost. Still all other units are holding and working good. Tony
I meant replace the sealed unit. I am not aware of any reasonably-priced procedure to "reseal" existing windows. I might trust Pella's or Anderson's warranty more than others because of the longevity of the name. A warranty is of no value unless it is honored.
Don't waste you money on this unless the window is guaranteed for a long time for both replacement of the window and removal and re-installation.
Argon is a fairly small molecule which will, over time pass through faults in the seal. When barometric pressure is low there will be a pressure gradient that will force the argon out. When the pressure rises the atmosphere outside is predominantly nitrogen, much larger that argon, and it won't flow back in. Over time the the inside and outside panes will touch. I have 50 Andersen windows in one of my homes that have failed in this manner. The Newton's rings seen as the two panes approach one another may be a curiosity but the are not what you want.
Boden
Lewis Campbell wrote:
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