Cold Bay Window

piperm87

Hi all, Its me again.

I been taking my works thermal imaging gun for a walk around my bedroom as its getting artic cold in there with this cold snap... We have a bay window which was fitted 2 years ago and i've noticed some wicked cold spots on it - i know bays traditionally get cold due to their nature but i've never seen a window get this cold before. I'm just wondering if its normal. i've attached the photo's for you to see.

First imagine is of the leftt hand side of the bay.  As you can see its 10 degree at the bottom of the window and the corner of the frame isn't much better

This is the right hand side of the bay and things aren't much better.  11 degree at the bottom corner of frame

This is the window board which doesn't look very warm

This is a shot of the front of the bay where it seems cold at the bottom of the glass where it meets the frame

The coldness at the bottom of the glass is common on every window in the house. im not sure if its just the way it works with windows but its getting baltic in the bedroom at the minute and i think alot of it has to do with the window - i know its abit window so its going to have alot of thermal loss but the hive TRV was saying 11 degree in the bedroom this morning. Thankfully we have thick curtains on the outside of the bay to keep a little bit of coldness out.

grumbler

I'd be more surprised by the fact that the wall under the window isn't much warmer than the window itself.

It's normal for UK windows and frames to be cold. In other countries they make thicker frames with more cameras inside, and triple glazing is much more common than here.

born_again

Reflective panel behind radiator to reflect heat, rather than try to warm the wall.

11C is pretty cold. Remember that is the TRV which is connected to the heat source. Try turning up a bit. 

piperm87

grumbler said:

I'd be more surprised by the fact that the wall under the window isn't much warmer than the window itself.

It's normal for UK windows and frames to be cold. In other countries they make thicker frames with more cameras inside, and triple glazing is much more common than here.

i know, it needs insulating. It has old timber slats on the front which are original and a good 50 years old.... i plan to remove them at some point and insulate the wall then re-do the front with upvc cladding.

chris_n

Bear in mind that a thermal camera doesn't work with glass, the emissivity is at the wrong wavelength. If you want to measure glass temperature put some black insulating tape on the window and leave it to settle to the same temp as the glass.

FreeBear

What I have done with some of the windows here is to put a strip of 25mm Celotex under the window board (one window has 50mm...). That would go some way to kill that cold spot - Probably wouldn't hurt to take the board out and check to see how well the frame is sealed. The thin blue line under the window board suggests that there is a cold draught coming in from that area.

11°C is just too darned cold - My bedrooms seem to stay above 16°C overnight without any heating kicking in from a high of 18-19°C.

piperm87

@born_again I've tried the foil behind the rads but it doesnt seem to make any difference to the temperature. The rooms losing temperature so quick once the set point is reached. All the bedrooms have hive trv's in. They are usually set to 20 degrees and pain thermostat set to 19.5 - 20 

@chris_m yeah ive read that elsewhere too. Its more the coldness of the frame that concerns me 

@FreeBear I wouldn't be surprised if its not been sealed properly it was a nightmare for the window fitters to install if i remember right. Im going to have a closer look at it once the weather warms up to see if theres anything i can do. In the corner where the joining strip is on the window ledge is abit of a gap in the sealant and theres defiantly a small but noticeable draft wafting through. I must admit i prefer a colder room. I seem to sleep better when its cooler, the missues isnt a fan of it though!