Single, Double, or Triple Pane Windows
What is the best for Your Home?
Replacing windows can help you save energy while stabilizing your homes climate. Eliminating drafts , heat, and moisture from leaky windows and frames all contribute to increasing your homes energy efficiency. Multi-paned or glazed windows offer an extra layers of insulation, along with other benefits that you just cannot achieve with single pane windows.
We have written the various differences and benefits between, Triple, Double, and Single Paned windows
Triple Pane Windows – the best bet for your Chicagoland home
Living in Northern Illinois it gets severely cold and stays cold for a great portion of the year. A triple pane window or triple glazed window is among the very best choices for you to keep your home warm and save energy and money.
This is why an investment in triple pane windows for the Chicagoland area makes perfect sense.
Remember that three panes of glass, means six surfaces of windowpane. This means more low-E coatings and two internal spaces for the argon and krypton gases (see following). This all contributes to a lower U-Factor, a higher R-value, raising the overall energy efficiency of your windows, lowering your homes utility bills.
Double Pane Windows
Double pane windows consist of two panes of glass. Double pane or double glazed windows are a good source of extra insulation and because of this they have been popular since.
Double pane windows employ all the same technologies as a triple pane but as a general rule can only reach an R-value of about 3.5 to 4.0 where a triple pane windows can easily get up to an R-value of 9 to 10.
Click here to see the difference that either a triple double paned window will perform in your home. Link to the efficient window Collaborative www.efficientwindows.org.
http://www.efficientwindows.org/factsheets_existing/Illinois.pdf
Single Pane Windows
Single pane windows or single glazed windows are the traditional choice for homes. These windows like the name suggest have only one pane of glass. Therefore, they do not have the additional insulation from the extra layers of glass, or the spaces in between the panes, double or triple panes, needed to hold the thermal gases (krypton and argon).
Because of this single pane windows are generally considered to have the least effective energy retention of any windows. Single paned windows tend to let in more sunlight and can be a good alternative in temperate climates but in areas such as ours ( Northern Illinois)were the temperatures are extreme single panes will result in higher utility bills.
Ultimately no matter how many layers of panes you chose, it will not matter unless the window is installed properly. You must make sure the installers are following the manufacturer’s installation guidelines.
