low-e glass with bronze tinting

[Scott Schultz]

A realtor suspects that his house may have the low-e coating applied to the inner pane of glass rather than the outer pane due to high energy bills. He asks me to come check so I do, finding that EVERY window has low-e on the interior pane rather than the exterior pane (we live in AZ) Anyway, he calls the window manufacturer who comes out and tells him that the exterior pane has a bronze coating and the interior pane should have the low-e when the exterior pane has this bronze coating. I never heard of this and explained to him that the low-e on the interior will still serve to reflect the heat already in the home back inside, regardless of what coating is on the outside. Has anyone ever heard of this before? thanks

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by Scott Schultz

A realtor suspects that his house may have the low-e coating applied to the inner pane of glass rather than the outer pane due to high energy bills. He asks me to come check so I do, finding that EVERY window has low-e on the interior pane rather than the exterior pane (we live in AZ) Anyway, he calls the window manufacturer who comes out and tells him that the exterior pane has a bronze coating and the interior pane should have the low-e when the exterior pane has this bronze coating. I never heard of this and explained to him that the low-e on the interior will still serve to reflect the heat already in the home back inside, regardless of what coating is on the outside. Has anyone ever heard of this before? thanks

The heat that's in the home is what the air conditioner is for. The insulation in the walls also keeps that heat in the house.

Not that much of an issue, especially since the bronze exterior tint is probably doing much more to stop heat gain due to reflecting visible sunlight. Low-E on any surface will reflect IR radiation either way.....it's not an all-or-none proposition or one way only. In this situation, it's doing more work than it would on surface #2!!
If it were only Low-E installed on the unit, the inner surface of the outer pane (surface #2) would be a bit better.

[Mark A. Timpani]

how did you tell, about the low e?

[Scott Schultz]

i have a low-e detector. So, in the future, if we see low-e installed on the interior pane of glass (surface 2), we should just leave it alone and not say anything? just looking for clarification as I was told that in warm weather climates, it should be on surface 3 and cold weather climates should be on surface 2.

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by Scott Schultz

i have a low-e detector. So, in the future, if we see low-e installed on the interior pane of glass (surface 2), we should just leave it alone and not say anything? just looking for clarification as I was told that in warm weather climates, it should be on surface 3 and cold weather climates should be on surface 2.

Scott:

With Low-e detectors, they have you count the surfaces from the surface touching the detector......did you test the from the inside layer? I started counting from inside as I hadn't used these surface #'s for 3-4 years.

The standard surface numbering is from out to in....1 to 4, 6 or 8.

Anyways, in my earliest post, my reasoning (or memory) lead me to believe that with a tinted or reflective outer glass that the outer surface (#3) of the inner pane would be the location for the low-E.

From PPG, their tinted/reflective outer glass sealed panes have it on surface #3 except for the plain glass, the first in the following list:

Type: Solar Control Low-E Insulating Glass

“Solarban

®” z50 (2) Glass, by PPG Industries, Inc.

Outdoor Lite:

Solarban z50, Sputtered Coated on second surface (2)

Indoor Lite:

Clear (transparent) Float Glass

Coating:

“Solarban” z50 Solar Control Low-E (Sputtered) by PPG Industries, Inc.
Location: Second Surface

Type: Solar Control Low-E Tinted Insulating Glass

“Solarban

®” z50 (3) “Bronze”, by PPG Industries, Inc.

Outdoor Lite:

“Bronze” Glass by PPG Industries, Inc.

Indoor Lite

: “Solarban” z50, Sputter Coated on third surface (3)

Coating

: “Solarban” z50 Solar Control Low-E (Sputtered) by PPG Industries, Inc.

Location

: Third Surface

Type: Solar Control Low-E Tinted Insulating Glass

“Solarban

®” z50 (3) “Solexia™”, by PPG Industries, Inc.

Outdoor Lite:

“Solexia” Glass by PPG Industries, Inc.

Indoor Lite

: “Solarban” z50, Sputter Coated on third surface (3)

Coating

: “Solarban” z50 Solar Control Low-E (Sputtered) by PPG Industries, Inc.

Location

: Third Surface

Type: Solar Control Low-E Tinted Insulating Glass

“Solarban

®” z50 (3) “Atlantica™”, by PPG Industries, Inc.
Outdoor Lite: “Atlantica” Glass by PPG Industries, Inc.
Indoor Lite

: “Solarban” z50, Sputter Coated on third surface (3)

Coating

: “Solarban” z50 Solar Control Low-E (Sputtered) by PPG Industries, Inc.

Location

: Third Surface

Type: Solar Control Low-E Tinted Insulating Glass

“Solarban

®” z50 (3) “Caribia®”, by PPG Industries, Inc.

Outdoor Lite:

“Caribia” Glass by PPG Industries, Inc.

Indoor Lite

: “Solarban” z50, Sputter Coated on third surface (3)

Coating

: “Solarban” z50 Solar Control Low-E (Sputtered) by PPG Industries, Inc.

Location

: Third Surface