Reducing solar heat gain through windows

Mike_the_Boilerman

Hello chaps and chapesses,

My little house faces directly south with tarmac car park in the front, and the house gets unbearably hot inside when the sun shines in through the windows all day in summer. So I'm thinking of getting new windows designed specifically to reduce or reflect the solar gain from the sun. (And cavity wall insulation too.)

Having looked on the Pilkingtons site there is a bewildering selection of types of glass, yet none of the double glazing company sites I've looked at seem to mention glass that reduces solar gain, only glass that reduces heat loss from within the house - the opposite of what I want to achieve! Has anyone here had the same problem and had windows fitted with glass that claims to reduce heat gain from the sun? What did you get, and are you pleased with it?

All advice most welcome...

Rodders53

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Solar_gain_in_buildings
worth reading?

Shading/shutters/reflective blinds may help with existing glazing?

Glazing in UK is generally designed to provide solar gain to a home, and keep the heat in... it may even be a Building Regs requirement?

You want to do the opposite i.e. what Pilkington refer to as Solar Control https://www.pilkington.com/en-gb/uk/products/product-categories/solar-control
Best of luck in getting that bit understood by domestic double/triple glazing companies.

paddy's_mum

Thick, lined curtains are the centuries old solution. They keep cold out in winter and heat out in summer.

troffasky

Mike_the_Boilerman wrote: »

none of the double glazing company sites I've looked at seem to mention glass that reduces solar gain, only glass that reduces heat loss from within the house - the opposite of what I want to achieve!

If you're in the UK then probably because it's not a problem that many people have. Have you tried actually asking a window supplier about reducing solar gain?

You could try some kind of reflective film on the outside [it almost certainly exists but can't tell you a specific product], for starters. It'll be the cheapest and quickest way to get going.

Mike_the_Boilerman

Ok thanks for your replies. Rodders' link led me to discover "smart glass", which seems to be just the ticket!

http://www.smart-glass.co.uk/

thickasabrick

We recently had triple glazing put in, January this year.
Appears to really cut down heat loss/gain. Something to do with it’s very low emissivity u value of 0.6 I think.
From the Home Hub group in Bracknell.
Chose them because we were looking for triple A rated windows with a very low emissivity value. Price was marginally more expensive than double glazing.

The label on the panes has this information.
4mm Ecopane
14mm Black Warm Edge
4mm Clear Float
14mm Black Warm Edge
4mm Ecopane
Filled with Argon

I looked up Ecopane and it looks like it’s a soft coated low emissivity glass from Glass Systems.

So far very impressed with the performance.


Looks like you might need a low g value pane for solar reflection as opposed to the low u value that we've gone for.
e.g.

https://www.glasssystems.co.uk/climate-glass/technical-info.html

Mike_the_Boilerman wrote: »

Ok thanks for your replies. Rodders' link led me to discover "smart glass", which seems to be just the ticket!

http://www.smart-glass.co.uk/

Mike_the_Boilerman

thickasabrick wrote: »

We recently had triple glazing put in, January this year.
Appears to really cut down heat loss/gain. Something to do with it’s very low emissivity u value of 0.6 I think.
From the Home Hub group in Bracknell.
Chose them because we were looking for triple A rated windows with a very low emissivity value. Price was marginally more expensive than double glazing.

The label on the panes has this information.
4mm Ecopane
14mm Black Warm Edge
4mm Clear Float
14mm Black Warm Edge
4mm Ecopane
Filled with Argon

I looked up Ecopane and it looks like it’s a soft coated low emissivity glass from Glass Systems.

So far very impressed with the performance.


Looks like you might need a low g value pane for solar reflection as opposed to the low u value that we've gone for.
e.g.

https://www.glasssystems.co.uk/climate-glass/technical-info.html

Thank you kindly for this Mr Brick. Excellent info especially as the company you mention is local. I will get in contact with them.


Mike