RV Dual Pane Windows

[Brandonsworld]

Does anyone have any real life experience with installing residential dual pane windows in thir rig? I can't seem to find many actual experiences, I know they use them on tiny houses, I'm doing a remodel and using spray foam as well as reinforcing around the openings which will reduce frame flexing around the windows.. Real experiences would be nice I feel like recommendations are not up to date considering how far window seal technology has come..
Thanks!

 

[LMHS]

Most RVs have aluminum framed windows designed for thin walls. Metal frames on windows make marvelous heat sinks at a location where you don't want a heat sink. You need to create a thermal break.

Making an interior storm window that will cover the entire window (pane AND frame) will likely be your best bet. I created mine using "U" shaped PVC lattice channel. I "glued" clear plastic into the PVC channel using clear exterior siliconized latex door/window caulk (spot glue then allow to dry for a few days, then recaulk once it's all secured to fill in the gaps between the spots). Painters tape held the frame and panels tightly together until the spot gluing dried. Then I let it CURE for about a week. DRY and CURE are two different things.

I got my ideas for building my interior storm windows from the Build it Solar website. Home Energy Conservation

 

[TheLooks]

The R value of modern double pane windows with the Energy Star rating (a joke by the way) is about 2 or 3. The amount of energy saved is so negligible that you could not measure it. I grew up in an ancient house on the coast of Maine that had ancient wooden single glass windows and wooden storms on the back and the (useless) Sears aluminum storms out front.(facing the ocean) I became a house builder and used the best windows for years and built my own house with good casement windows. ON a windy day with sub zero temps, you could stand in front of my modern windows and "feel" the draft passing by you. It was not a draft, it was the chilling effect of the cold on the glass. Many people we built for complained bitterly about the poor installation as they could feel a draft and there was no educating them. Many of them supposedly smart people. Windows are a huge scam by the replacement window companies to take your money. You won't live long enough to realize a return on investment in energy saved. But you will have nice new windows. By the way, a study done many years back after all this chatter about R values entered the public domain showed that properly installed wooden framed storms attached to the outside were just as effective as 2 panes with inert gas between them.

 

[docj]

By the way, a study done many years back after all this chatter about R values entered the public domain showed that properly installed wooden framed storms attached to the outside were just as effective as 2 panes with inert gas between them.

Anyone who understands the physics would agree that properly installed storm windows would provide essentially the same thermal barrier as that provided by an inert gas (or vacuum) air gap. All that really matters is that the two (or more) panes of glass act as a barrier to thermal conduction. The R value of a single pane of glass is a bit less than one; the R-value of two panes of glass no matter how they are mounted is twice that or more depending on whether dielectric films are applied to the glass surfaces.

Although you clearly have an issue with those who market replacement windows, I trust that you aren't disputing the overall benefits provided by the use of two (or more panes) of glass in a window. For those who use RVs in cold weather, just the reduction of condensation alone provides ample justification for the use of dual pane windows. I'm sure that the windows you installed didn't have any air leaks, but the thermal losses caused by a window are independent of whether there is any actual air leakage through them.

 

[TheLooks]

Ah, physics. A term used to mislead buyers with high sounding crap. I LIVED in a test environment and used many brands of supposedly energy efficient window's. The very term R value is misleading to people that do not understand what it means and how it is measured. I am out of this discussion, I stand by everything I have
stated.

 

[docj]

FWIW, I happen to have a PhD in physics and (at one time) I could have filled this discussion with formulas and calculations. But I have no particular reason to feel obligated to defend my position. Science is something you don't "agree or disagree with"; it simply "is"!

 

[TheLooks]

I have met many people to educated to understand what was happening right in front of them. And Covid and LGBTQ+ has taught us that science is what you think it is. We are both on the same page but my real life work and observation has not followed what (science)(salesmanship) has told us.

 

[Knobs]

Years ago, I lived in a house with external storm windows. I lived there for 15 years in the upper Midwest winters.

By the way, a study done many years back after all this chatter about R values entered the public domain showed that properly installed wooden framed storms attached to the outside were just as effective as 2 panes with inert gas between them.

This seems to me to be a point in favor of the double pane windows. I would've expected the storms to be more effective than double panes, and yet double pane windows are apparently as effective while being more convenient.

They don't need to be removed and stored seasonally for the windows to fully operate in warm weather and then reinstalled as winter approaches. This can be a big deal in a two story house. Plus, they look better.

As an aside, I'm astonished to learn that sales and advertising people exaggerate (or even lie) to make the sale.

 

[TheLooks]

Years ago, I lived in a house with external storm windows. I lived there for 15 years in the upper Midwest winters.


This seems to me to be a point in favor of the double pane windows. I would've expected the storms to be more effective than double panes, and yet double pane windows are apparently as effective while being more convenient.

They don't need to be removed and stored seasonally for the windows to fully operate in warm weather and then reinstalled as winter approaches. This can be a big deal in a two story house. Plus, they look better.

As an aside, I'm astonished to learn that sales and advertising people exaggerate (or even lie) to make the sale.

If you are building a new house you would be correct. But don't think the expense of installing new windows will pay for itself. Plus many welded plastic windows last maybe 15 years or so and by then the maker has gone out of business and taken the "lifetime" warranty with them. Only to reform under a different name and continue on, with a new lifetime warranty. Old wooden windows lasted for generations, or until the house was modernized and made to tight, causing all the moisture to collect on the windows and rotting them out.
Go back in time to the early 70's when the Canadians were wrapping the interior with poly plastic before hanging drywall and see the results on wood framed windows. So they went to cheap plastic windows or Aluminum, which corroded in the ocean areas. Now they put heat exchangers in to control humidity. How much does that cost?
Don't get me wrong, I put Andersen windows in my home and I think they are the best. But I took care of mine. In a modern home made to tight to breath at all with no heat exchanger installed, there is no place for wooden sash windows. My casement Andersen windows are going on 35 years old and doing well in Coastal Maine. But I don't pretend that they insulate anything in mid winter.
The Europeans use triple windows and doors. Why don't we? Oh we will when the Gov mandates it on new housing. And they will be the best thing ever! With a lifetime warranty don't ya know. Follow the money.