Repairing BB Hole in Window

I have a double-pane window, downstairs on one end of the family room. It's not very visible, being under the rear deck. Someone recently shot a small hole, probably with a BB gun, which penetrated the outer pane. I'm looking for advice on how to seal that up. I googled around, but surprisingly not a lot there. Lots of articles on repairing broken windows or holes in screens, but not this. Could not find anything on Amazon or on the sites of Lowes or Home Depot. Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance

Reply to
Glen Moffitt
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You can epoxy over the hole, but it will show, and the seal is blown, so the glass will fog up over time, I would expect.

Reply to
Bob F

You can always get one of these for $900

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Holes can be filled with resin, but I have no idea how well it works. Maybe a local glass place will have what you need.

If appearance is not critical, I'd use epoxy.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

You could patch the hole with clear epoxy, however, since the outside air has got inside, the moisture in the air inside (unless you re in the desert) WILL tend to condense onto the glass from time to time depending on temperature.

Reply to
Rudy

Their ideas are good. Don't push it in much or it will run down or reach the other pane, which won't look as good.

You could also use clear silicone cement like from GE. They might have that in a hardware store but will definitely have it in a good autoparts store.

Reply to
mm

Howdy,

You have seen good ideas about epoxy, and I suspect the concerns you have seen about the humidity of the air that entered are correct.

But, you might be able to mitigate the condensation problems if you were to heat the window some before applying the epoxy.

I might try aiming some sort of space heater at the glass for a while before doing the repair.

Even heating it slightly would lower the level of humidity between the panes, and that would, in turn, lower the temperature at which you would see condensation.

All the best,

Reply to
Kenneth

The heat won't remove the moisture in the trapped air, only make it warmer. The moisture would have to escape thru the hole, which won't happen.

Reply to
PanHandler

Hi, I'd just have the glass parts replaced. Seal is broken and it's no good insulator and it'll fog up when raining or weather gets cold.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

It will eventualy fog so you cant see out of it, if its big you may think insurance. You can seal it with a bit of caulk

Reply to
ransley

Perhaps we can dry that air. Before plugging the BB hole, we might drill a hole in the glass seal with a tube to an aquarium air pump in a box with a few Tyvek bags filled with desiccant clay...

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Nick

Reply to
Nick Pine

Heating air lowers the RH but doesn't change the absolute moisture content, so the air would have the same dew point after it cooled.

We might dry the air by running a tube from a dessicant box to the hole and cycling the space heater every half hour for a few hours to pump air out and back into the window cavity.

Nick

Reply to
nicksanspam

Two approaches.

Replace the double-pane glass. If it's an Andersen they're readily available and not too horrendously priced for a replacement part.

Low-tech, low-cost, under the deck not very visible repair - clear plastic packing tape. It'll be clearer and less obtrusive than any caulk or epoxy repair you can make and you'll have no trouble controlling the depth of the repair. I'd first let the hole sit for a while to make sure that any cracks won't propagate. Then I'd use some silica gel packets (typically found in shoe boxes and electronics packaging) to dry out the air inside the insulated glass unit. Dry the packets in the oven at low temperature for a while, then put the silica packet over the hole and tape plastic over the packet so it will only absorb moisture from inside the hole. Let it sit for a while, then replace the packet with a freshly dried one (quickly!). It should only take a couple or three packets as they're can't be that much moisture inside. Then remove the silica packet and quickly tape over the hole. The edges of the tape are usually what's visible due to handling and ragged edges from cutting it, so you could use an razor knife to cut the tape edges off after it's been burnished down on the glass (don't press too hard). A major benefit is that it's easy to redo the poor-man's dessicant technique if moisture appears between the panes during the winter.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Hi Nick,

No Physicist I, but at first, I thought, "Of course... He's absolutely right."

Then, on further reflection, (though I certainly may be wrong) I came to see it differently:

The window used to be a closed vessel (and were that to continue, your comment would, I believe, be correct.)

But now, it is an open vessel (the bb hole.)

Consider the analogy (though far more extreme) to a clothes drier:

It heats the air in the drum, the RH goes down, the water in the clothes is drawn to the air, and that moist air (with the water it carries) is expelled by a fan via the duct.

It would appear to me that much the same thing would happen in the case of the window:

A space heater (or some such) heats the glass of the window, and after a few minutes, heats the air enclosed. As that air warms, at least two things happen. First, as you say, its RH drops. But in addition to that, it expands, expelling some of that air via the bb hole, and with it, the moisture it carries.

It seems to me that over time (and let's remember that the volume of air in the window is extremely low) both the RH, and the absolute humidity of the air in the window would drop.

Then, when the epoxy seals the hole (while the window is still warm) the AH within would be lower than the surrounding environment thus lowering the temperature at which condensation would be visible.

Might I have that right?

All the best,

Reply to
Kenneth

Kenneth wrote: ...

...

... Not unless the replacement air is drier than the air which one is trying to displace -- which it isn't since it would be only some very small fraction of air displaced by the volume expansion of a minimal amount of (localized) heating.

The only way to make any significant difference would be the same way the window was manufactured--draw a vacuum and fill w/ dry gas which ain't gonna' happen.

Only real choice is to get the window repaired/replaced.

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Reply to
dpb

Why not just break open a few of those dessicant packets and push the pellets through the hole into the window cavity? They'll trap the moisture and hold it.

You'll NEVER get the moisture out by taping dessicant packets over the hole.

Reply to
mkirsch1

Hello again,

A replacement may, indeed, be the way to go, but...

I am also eager to understand the situation:

You say "not unless the replacement air is drier."

What replacement air?

As I described, it seems to me that as the heater air expands, and exits through the bb hole, it takes with it some water vapor. That makes it "drier" than it was. Assuming that the epoxy is a seal, would that not decrease the likelihood of condensation?

Thanks,

Reply to
Kenneth

My neighbor's boy friend's kids shot mine, it cost about $60USD for a replacement. I took the old sash into the shop and they replaced the glass. This took two trips to the shop. Once for them to measure the glass so they could order the replacement glass and then go back for them to put the glass in the sash.

Jimmie

Reply to
JIMMIE

"What replacement air?"

Precisely...the air that leaves is simply a small fraction of the same air that's already there. It doesn't "take" any disproportionate amount of water vapor with it, only it's entrained share. Hence, the remaining air (a _very_ tiny fraction less volume, perhaps) is still the same moisture level.

Only unless you can get some mechanism to preferentially remove moisture and/or replace the existing air w/ substantially drier air will it make any difference. Either of those is pretty difficult to do w/o vacuum pump and a source of dry gas, neither of which is likely to be handy.

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Reply to
dpb

Anyone tried these guys or similar services which say they drill a hole in the outer pane and put in a one way valve as part of their process?

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Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

dpb wrote: ...

... That, of course, is mass, not volume--the volume is fixed only the density decreases slightly owing to the postulated heating...

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Reply to
dpb

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