The warm-edge debate is hotting up, but where is it
heading?
It's great that we're
all making an effort to raise the standard of sealed units and we at
Profix together with our supply chain partner Thermoseal are actively
encouraging this to happen. However, whilst EN1279 standards are not
enforced properly, then Window Energy Ratings (WERs) are not a 'real'
indication of energy efficient windows.
Quality should be the
fundamental consideration before energy ratings even come into the equation,
but the new WER scheme doesn't re-enforce this and is giving homeowners
a false sense of security.
Homeowners
are being led to believe that an 'A' rating is the best. In an ideal world this would be so,
but we all know that producing a quality sealed unit that will last its
warranty period is more about the quality of ALL of the window
components and how they are ALL assembled, than it is about the
potential WER of each component.
If a sealed unit is constructed badly and with substandard
components then any thermal energy saving will be lost.
Quality
vs. WERs!
In
an average home fitted with 'C' rated windows, the energy loss amounts
to approximately £9.50 worth of energy per year.
An
'A' rating means that there is theoretically no energy lost through the
window. This extra saving is
great, but insignificant if a glazed unit fails due to poor quality. The actual cost of replacing just one
sealed unit is more than the theoretical energy lost over a decade in a
house fitted with 'C' rated windows that experience no failures!
This is the essence of our
Enviro-TX.N recommended unit construction and what we believe is the
'real' issue with warm edge products in the current market.
