Amazing breakthrough in period window technology

[FamilyWiggs]

Shutters and curtains as good as double glazing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11759023

The thermal imaging exercise really proved that very simple measures, like closing shutters at night or using full length curtains, can have a dramatic effect and make a dramatic improvement on the amount of heat being lost through the windows.

Crikey - what will they think of next! :roll:

 

[biffvernon]

Actually, despite what we would all like to believe, the article does not say "Shutters and curtains as good as double glazing". Neither does it record the room temperature behind the blue coloured window in the image. Thick curtains and, even better if tight fitting, shutters, will help but to suggest that they are as good in wishful thinking.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

OK, what it does say is:

Shutters and curtains 'act' as double glazing.

People living in period properties are being told they can dramatically reduce their energy bills, simply by closing their curtains or shutters at dusk.

Edinburgh researchers claim it could be as effective as fitting double glazing.

Either way, I'm not sure Evere$t will be putting it in their next advert.

 

[JohnB]

Shutters and curtains 'act' as double glazing.

I thought the idea of glazing was that you can see through it, and it lets light into the room! When it's dark might be the coldest part of the day, but it can still be cold during daylight.

So they don't act as double glazing. They perform one of the functions of double glazing, for some of the time .

 

[JoceAndChris]

Have to say I agree with Biff and John, more's the pity. I know the warmth levels here would be transformed if I ripped the Viccy sash windows out and put in double glazing, and kept the shutters, and the curtains.

Of course I won't do it, but if I get my wish for opening up windows in the breakfast room they'll be double glazed. As will the Chinoiserie extension ones.

If, how, they'll match the others in the polygonal bay is a real difficulty.

 

[JohnB]

Have to say I agree with Biff and John

You mean you don't like agreeing with us? :evil: :wink:

 

[JoceAndChris]

That wasn't really what I meant though - just that there is a compromise with appearance, especially if it's just one or two windows being replaced.

 

[Flyfisher]

I really wish we had shutters. I've always thought they are a wonderfully practical things. But we don't.

The other thing I've never quite understood is the positioning of radiators directly underneath windows. I understand it's supposed to minimise draughts, but a radiator underneath a big s-g Georgian sash all covered up with heavy curtains seems rather sub-optimal as a heating solution. Might as well just install the radiator outside and not spoil the internal decor.

Not that we have such an arrangement, because we have no radiators in the main part of the house, yet, but it's the advice we've been given.

Never mind, the thermal long-johns are doing their job; 3.7C in our unheated rooms last night (including where I'm typing this), but I was comfortable except for my hands. I must get a new pair of fingerless gloves - I always seem to mislay them over the summer.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Poor FF! That's so cold!

Just on the curtains and radiators thing. The curtains get really warm and waft lovely heat about, so it does still work, though perhaps not as well as if the rads were elsewhere. And in the day, the curtains are open ( not that we have much heating on in daylight)

My rooms aren't really big enough to site them elsewhere.

 

[Tom]

We dropped down to 3.1 inside and -2.4 outside last night. Had a very thick, crunchy frost this morning.

 

[Feltwell]

The other thing I've never quite understood is the positioning of radiators directly underneath windows.

I'm with you on that. It's supposed to be more efficient, but I do wonder if it's got more to do with the fact that furniture is less likely to be positioned underneath a window.

On my house the sashes all go so close the floor that the radiators can't be under the windows, they are all wall mounted elsewhere in the rooms. Still seems to work fine.

 

[robgil]

rads go under windows because it is a cold spot in a room , just as ufh pipework is tighter by windows and doors.
i always thought dg had to have a vacuum between the glass to work , how do you get negative pressure between a window and some curtains?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Quite. Today is so icily windy I'm keeping the curtains that hang over the porch doors closed. Currently, the breeze is such that they're billowing inwards by about half a metre. :roll:

 

[AMc]

i always thought dg had to have a vacuum between the glass to work , how do you get negative pressure between a window and some curtains?

DG used to be unsealed - now it tends to be filled with heavy inert gas (argon etc.) which I believe resists convection currents carrying heat from the warm pane to the cold one. If you wanted anything approaching a gas free gap you'd need very strong glass to resist the air pressure. Even when the seals fail on DG units they continue to perform, albeit slightly less effectively.
Secondary glazing also works without a proper seal - and I'm glad of it in my bedroom now!