A Rated windows - argon gas??

bargainbasement

Hi, looking to get my conservatory replaced and have been quoted for A rated argon gas filled windows. Is it worth paying the extra? is it going to make much difference when we are only having a polycarbonate roof? if it means we stand more chance of using the conservatory more than summer then it maybe worth thinking about. but if it is still going to be cold without a tiled roof i'm wondering what the benefits would be...?

Any advice much appreciated!

MX5huggy

What is the price difference between the 2 options argon filling does not normally cost much more. You could consider Krypton filling that is more expensive. (and how do you tell if there is a clear colour less gas between 2 pains of glass).

Argon normally make a difference of 0.1 to the u-value of the window. So air filled units may be 1.8 W/(m2k) argon 1.7.

What does this mean :-

for every 1m2 of glass it will take 0.1 off a watt of energy for every degree difference in temperature between inside and outside to maintain the internal temperature.

So say its 0 out side & you want to maintain 20 inside, that will take 2 watts extra per hour.

Lets presume its 0 outside for 4 months of the year & and the rest of the time its 20 outside (so we have no losses for 8 months) 2 watts x 24hours x 30 days x 4 months = 5760 watts = 5.8kW

May be you have 10m2 of glass so 10 x 5.8kW = 58kW

Electricity (the most expensive fuel may be you will use gas) costs 13p per kW so 58 x 13 = £7.54

That's £7.54 saving per year with argon fill.

Doozergirl

MX5huggy wrote: »

That's £7.54 saving per year with argon fill.

No saving at all with a polycarbonate roof. Heat will quite happily escape straight through that.

Totally pointless expenditure, even if it wasn't already quite intricately calculated by you

bargainbasement

Many thanks for your responses i did think it would be pointless with a polycarb roof. I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as poss and rule out what i don't need. Question about polycarb roof do you know what the standard thickness is now 35mm? if there is thicker would i perhaps be better off increasing the thickness of the roof and reducing the rating of the windows??

what a dilemma!

cajef

Doozergirl wrote: »

No saving at all with a polycarbonate roof. Heat will quite happily escape straight through that.

Not true at all, 35mm polycarbonate has a better u value than a lot of double glazed glass units.

http://www.tradeconservatories2u.co.uk/specifications/insulation-values.htm

murphydog999

I can only tell you from our experience abroad. We have a villa in the southern med and had windows replaced with sliding doors. There was a demonstration in the showroom of how the argon reduced the heat penetration, and it seemed to work really well, so we paid the extra. Thankfully it was money well spent, they are west facing doors and apart from the fact that we would have fried without it, the furniture and furnishing would have been ruined. The temperature difference between these and the 'standard' glass was amazing.

If you want the warmth, but not the heat, and you want to protect your belongings I would say it was worth it.