Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

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AlwaysLearning
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by AlwaysLearning »

I have a cold bedroom and I just can't identify why.

The latest straw I'm clutching is that the sealed double glazing units have some how failed. They are 15+ years old but there's no condensation or visible cracks hence straw clutching. They started life argon filled but that may have leaked away. Is there a method for testing DG units in situ?
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Someone-Else
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by Someone-Else »

What about the walls? do you get wind blowing more across the front than say the back? What about insulation above the room? (Loft?)

I just googled (as you do) and argon filled DG even at 80% filled will still work at 20 years.
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Would you hit a nail with a shoe because you don't have a hammer? of course not, then why work on anything electrical without a means of testing Click Here to buy a "tester" just because it works, does NOT mean it is safe.

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AlwaysLearning
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by AlwaysLearning »

This is going to be a long reply, sorry.

The room is a bedroom on the first floor and when the heating goes off, it cools quicker than any where else. Measurement shows 2C cooler than other rooms. This effect seems to have appeared over the past couple of years and wasn't noticeable before. The loft is insulated to 170mm for the entire building so no reason there for the bedroom to be cold.
  • Two walls are internal and the adjoining rooms hold heat as expected.
  • One wall is a party cavity wall with no cavity insulation. However, the other bedroom that shares the wall doesn't cool rapidly.
  • The other wall is a cavity wall with cavity insulation and a large window. However, the adjoining bedroom that shares the external wall doesn't cool rapidly.
  • The ceiling has a pendent light and the cable hole is sealed to prevent airflow.
  • The cable ways to the electrical sockets are also sealed so there's no cold air blowing from sockets.
  • The floor has carpet and is a suspended timber floor. The floor/wall joints are sealed.
  • Where the joists enter the party cavity wall, I've sealed with PU foam to fill any gaps where timbers have shrunk over the years. No air ingress there.
  • Where the floor joists go under the internal wall, I've packed with insulation so there's little to no air movement under the floorboards.
So I'm clutching at straws.

And, yes, I have thought of hiring a IR camera but the cost has shot up these past few months.
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by dewaltdisney »

You have not mentioned the thickness of the insulation in the loft above, and more importantly what room is below. It is possible that the caulk around the window needs to be replaced and this is allowing cold ingress as can perished gaskets on the window seals. I think I would experiment by getting some acrylic sheet cut to size and taping this over the inside of the whole internal window to see the effect. At least you could illiminate possible sources of suspected heat loss.

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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by AlwaysLearning »

170mm rockwool

Below is a large lounge. That's not the source of the problem.

The UPVC windows were fitted my morons for Everest. Naturally they were fitted as quickly as possible with the least skill possible. Over the years as I have renovated, I've stripped back the edging and sealed the gaps between masonry frame. Also checked the unit seals and window seals. No air movement detected using candles while a storm raged outside.

Also tried removing the trickle vent.and taping over it.

Hence straw clutching.
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by dewaltdisney »

I should try an exorcist :lol:

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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by Someone-Else »

If you are that concerned I see you have little option than to buy This Then sell it on after your one time use. Not as expensive as you thought?
Above are my opinions Below is my signature.

Would you hit a nail with a shoe because you don't have a hammer? of course not, then why work on anything electrical without a means of testing Click Here to buy a "tester" just because it works, does NOT mean it is safe.

:mrgreen: If gloom had a voice, it would be me.

:idea1: Click Here for a video how to add/change pictures


Inept people use the QUOTE BUTTON instead of the QUICK REPLY section :-)
AlwaysLearning
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Testing Double Glazing in a Cold Room

Post by AlwaysLearning »

Wrong tool for the job. It might work if there is a big temperature difference, but for anything subtle, you're wasting your time.

The problem is that it has a 32x32 IR sensor that maps to a 640 x 320 screen. Each IR pixel maps to about 200 screen pixels and it uses an algorithm to smooth the edges. There's also no thermal stabilization behind the IR sensor so the electrical noise means the temperature at the measurement cross varies . It should really read 16+/-1 it's so unstable.

Here's a pic of a window.
2020-06-22-00-26-59.png
2020-06-22-00-26-59.png (190.02 KiB) Viewed 1035 times

The walls are 3C higher than the glass and it's not easy to spot.

If I'm going to use an IR camera to spot the cold source, it would need to be the right one for the job.
It always takes longer than I thought
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