AGG - 2006 - March/April - Fixing A Failed IG Unit

Insulating glass units increase energy efficiency with their sealed air space. That’s a fact.

More controversial is how long an IG unit retains its sealed properties before a failure occurs and the unit fogs up. Now, also controversial, a way to fix IG units in situ has come onto the market.

Canadian-based Crystal Clear Window Works (CCWW) has developed a failed IG repair service and is offering it through an authorized dealer network.

CCWW’s IG repair technology process has been used in Canada to repair more than 125,000 units with only a small percentage of warranty work being required, according to company officials. The company provides a complete refund for serviced windows if they cannot be fixed.

The CCWW insulating glass repair process is designed to eliminate the moisture and subsequent fogging that occurs in defective thermal-pane windows with the ability to restore both optical clarity and R-value. Repair prices are generally half the cost of replacement for an IG unit.

“There are millions of failed IG units in the United States annually. By repairing windows rather than replacing them, we hope to keep as many windows out of our landfills as possible,” states Mike Boyle, president of Glas-Weld Systems, Inc., Portland, Ore. Glas-Weld has partnered with CCWW to offer training and marketing.

www.glasweld.com/ccwwi or call 800/321-2597.

To repair a failed insulating glass unit, a technician drills a bottom left access hole, left, and a top right access hole, above. With two holes diagonally apart the technician can access the entire surface areas 2 and 3. Then a pump is inserted into the lower hole and up to six different solutions are used to wet out, clean, rinse and dry the inside of the unit. All the solutions are inserted from the upper hole and a continuous drain occurs with the pump on the lower hole.

As a tech is spraying the solutions, he is looking for a flattening and wet out of the solutions, watching for the cleaning action of the solutions and assessing in real time how much of the moisture, dirt and deposits are being removed. In the event a mineral deposit remains on the glass, the technician will mechanically clean that spot with a magnet set that can clean either surface 2 or 3 by inserting a cleaning ball inside the unit and manipulating it from surface 1 or 4 with a non-marring magnetic tool.

Once the unit is fully cleaned and the drying solution have been introduced, all the visible moisture and water droplets will dissipate and “flash” (evaporate). Patented DeFogger valves and seals are installed. Solar energy and temperature and humidity differentials from the inside of the airspace to outside will wick the remaining moisture caught in the desiccants and spacer bars. At that point wet moist air has been replaced with dry air returning the insulating properties to the unit.