How Does Double Glazing Save Energy?

On the first days of winter, with the temperatures outside dropping rapidly, we thought it would be helpful to put together a blog discussing how double glazing can help you save energy, keep your home warm and push your bills down.

How Is Heat Lost From Your Home?

As a starting point it makes sense for us to cover the basics of how heat is lost from your home.

The most significant contributor to heat loss is conduction through the walls, floor, roof, doors and windows. If you look at a heat photograph of a house you’ll see quickly that by far the biggest red spots are the roof and the windows.

Convection also contributes to heat loss – that is, cold air entering the house through gaps and circulating within – but by far the biggest problem is conduction through the roof and windows.

Your house is like a cup of coffee sitting on a park bench on a cold day. Unless it’s insulated, it soon becomes a cold cup of coffee.

How Can You Reduce Heat Loss?

Well, you can certainly try pumping more and more in by turning up the central heating. It may well work, but obviously you’re going to get a nasty surprise when your utility bills come in. An alternative is to wear between three and five jumpers at all times, but that’s not exactly practical.

So, it pays to have a good look at the way heat is exiting your home and doing something about it. Fitting carpets and heavy curtains can certainly help, and good cavity wall and loft insulation can make a huge difference.

However, one of the most effective ways to reduce heat loss and keep the bills down is by installing high quality double glazing.

How Does Double Glazing Work?

In fact, double glazing works in a similar way to cavity wall and loft insulation.

Two panes of glass (or three, in the case of triple glazing) are separated by a spacer bar sealed together using a strong, durable adhesive. The cavity within is filled under perfect vacuum conditions with an inert gas (usually argon) which improves insulation and prevents condensation.

It’s possible to fill with dehydrated air instead, but argon provides much better long-term insulation. Argon is more viscous than air, meaning molecular movement is slowed and therefore heat transfer is slowed. Argon is also more dense, which makes condensation less likely. Using argon tends to be around 5% more expensive, but is considered to be 30% more effective.

This set up reduces the loss of heat through conduction (the transfer of heat energy from a hot area to a cold area) because argon is a terrible conductor of heat. It also does the job of reducing the loss of heat through convection, because the gap between the panes is too small to allow any kind of circulation to start.

The airtight seal around the panes is absolutely crucial for any of this to work, which is why it is essential that you choose a quality installer with a good reputation. Shoddy work will only end up costing you in the long run, and double glazing is supposed to be a good financial investment after all!

How Much Difference Does Double Glazing Make?

Double glazing, especially when produced using argon, has been scientifically proven to make a huge difference to a home’s heat loss – usually £100s of pounds per year, and even more with triple glazing.

At Britelite we have decades of experience installing double glazing to the highest standard. We use soft-coat, low-E glass to maximise thermal and acoustic performance and our fitters are professional, dedicated and honest. Our testimonials speak for themselves in this respect. If you’re interested in trying to save energy and improve the security of your home, get a free instant online quote today or contact us for a design consultation.