Spontaneous shattering of double glazed panels (2023 Update)

[Davey]

True, but it is not in the American dictionary. Nor is 'fortnight'. Nor is 'twice', unbelievably.

[Davey]

Possible. Michigan bridges were notoriously badly maintained. It was many years ago now, so I doubt we'll ever know.

[S Viemeister]

Which American dictionary have you consulted?

[Davey]

The verbal one of living there for 30 years.

[S Viemeister]

Michigan must be more backward than the east coast.

[Capitol]

In my case, it was whilst driving through Mississippi, there was a hell of a bang and I discovered that a plastic trim piece behind the rear door had gained a starred decoration. I put it down to a stray bullet from a hunter as the area was forested. Luckily it didn't hit any glass.

[Davey]

I lived and worked in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, California, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, North and South Carolinas, and maybe more, and visited many more. In none of them were the words 'fortnight' or 'twice' ever used voluntarily by any American I met, and if I used them, I got asked what I meant when using them. Another oddity is the use of 'one-half' instead of 'a half', as in:

English: "He took the corner too fast, and rolled the car one and a half times". American: "He took the curve too fast, and rolled the car one and one half times". It always sounds odd to the English ear.

[Davey]

In Mississippi, it could as easily have been somebody doing moving target practice!

Oh, sorry, that's Detroit....

[Capitol]

Or Houston!

[Davey]

[S Viemeister]

I, too, have spent decades in the US, and my experience differs from yours.

[Davey]

We clearly moved in different circles.

[Davey]

I cite these pages in support of my view, using an American dictionary:

Check the Comments in all cases. for peoples' familiarity, or otherwise, with the terms.

[S Viemeister]

Apparently so.

[Davey]

snip

Was watching 'Homes under the Hammer' today, and there was this American young lady on, and lo! and behold, she came out with 'two times' instead of twice, all on her own.

[TonyB]

replying to Dave Chapman , TonyB wrote:

Hi Dave,

We have experienced exactly the same thing. We also have a conservatory from a major supplier, fitted just under 4 years ago. Last June, we came home to find the inside pane of one of the large glass side panels completely shattered. No-one was in the house at the time. About two weeks later another panel shattered in exactly the same fashion. Both panels went on relatively cool days, so heat excessive heat expansion could not be the cause. To date the company has replaced the two panels without question. However; last Sunday there was a terrific bang and we were horrified to find a third panel has shattered - again the inside pane on another relatively cool day and again, fortunately no-one was in the conservatory at the time. This time the site manager visited and has quibbled about the guarantee. He did not offer any kind of information, or have any idea as to the cause, other than 'it happens' - more than that, he seemed unwilling to undertake any investigation - not at all re-assuring. We are pushing to get the panel replaced under the guarantee, as we think it is down to impurities within the glass and is therefore clearly a manufacturing fault. We are not all reassured that it won't happen again. Each shattering has left a fine carpet of very sharp glass fragments on the floor, even though the panel has stayed intact in the frame. I am not reassured that it is not potentially dangerous to either us, or our pet dog who likes to soak up the warmth. We have asked for a full investigation, but it doesn't seem as though this will be forthcoming. I would be very interested to hear of other's experiences.

Kind regards,

Tony

[harryagain]

A good reason to have a conservatory built on dwarf walls. You only have the doors to worry about.

I'm amazed about the roof panel. Only the lower panels need to be toughened glass. You might ask about this aspect. They are here as a safety thing, ie if someone/child accidently breaks one, less chnce of getting cut up. They are allegedly harder to break than normal glass.

[Dave Liquorice]

Does seem odd.

By falling/pushed against it. You don't want to do that with ordinary glass that breaks into loads of razor sharp daggers. You#ll stil get cuts from the toughend granuals but you won't sever arteries of ligaments.

It's funny stuff toughed glass, it's understress all the time and when it goes it goes. The trigger can be pretty small, a nice sharp automatic centre punch can do it. But I've also witnessed a Special Effects guy having quite some difficulty shattering a toughed car windscreen. He started very cautious with gentle taps from a small hammer and cold chisel, end up with a lump hammer and really giving it some...

[John Williamson]

That sounds more like a laminated screen, which is often 2 sheets of toughened glass with a sheet of plastic laminated in the middle.

[Stephen]

I have had this happen with my conservatory....

It turned out to be subsidence of the dwarf walls, and thus the frames were distorting, placing the glass under stress and then shattering.