Re: Spontaneous Shattering of Vinyl Windows
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NorCal Customer
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- Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:26 pm
Re: Spontaneous Shattering of Vinyl Windows
We had all of our old windows replaced about 7 years ago with Certainteed Bryn Mawr II windows apparently manufactured by Anlin Windows. A few weeks ago, one of the windows spontaneously shattered (it was a floor to ceiling window.) There was a loud "bang," and then the window completely shattered (but remained intact, I assume, because it was tempered.) Only the inside pane shattered. The outside pane is still wholly intact. There was absolutely no impact, it just "out of the blue" shattered. Also, the weather that day was comfortable, not too hot or cold. Has anyone experienced this problem? Is this a common problem with windows manufactured by Anlin? We are concerned that the rest of our windows will follow suit at some point, so any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Re: Spontaneous Shattering of Vinyl Windows
We were awakened one night with a large noise but could not find the source until the next morning when we found that our dining room window had imploded. Only the inside lite of our window broke, not the outside lite. A call to our window dealer brought a quick response from the manufacturer who replaced the insulated unit. In talking to the service tech he told us that this situation is rare but the cause is rarer still. Many forces are at work.....unit too tight in the frame, proper tempering of the glass, gas fill pressure, temperature of outside glass, gas temperaturei tself and inside air temp near the glass. Also he said that the change in seasons seems to increases this phenomenon. I was hoping that someone from the industry would respond, but I doubt that they are even aware of this forum.
Re: Spontaneous Shattering of Vinyl Windows
Glass breakage after 7 years in home is not normal, but also not unheard of. A manufacturer will not warranty glass breakage unless specifically written in the warranty. Simonton, Milgard and JELD-WEN have it written in.
A house can settle and put undue pressure on the corner of the glass, especially in retrofit where the fit might not have been perfect to start with, and shatter the glass.
A house can settle and put undue pressure on the corner of the glass, especially in retrofit where the fit might not have been perfect to start with, and shatter the glass.
Re: Spontaneous Shattering of Vinyl Windows
Spontaneous breakage of tempered glass isn't common, but it isn't particularly rare either. It happens in oven doors, shower doors, side and rear windows in cars, and even in window and door tempered glass in the home. A quick bit of background on tempered glass which might help explain a little.
Tempered glass is created by heating a piece of regular float glass to about 1300 degrees F and very rapidly cooling it. This has the effect of placing the outer 21% of the glass into compression and the inner 58% of the glass into tension. The combination of tension and compression layers makes the glass very strong and it also is what creates the "dicing" (little tiny pieces) that you get when tempered glass breaks.
Tempered glass breaks into those little pieces anytime the center tension layer is breached. Cut into tempered glass or try drilling it and POW, lots of little pieces. There are a couple of different reasons for it. One, as earwax mentioned, if the house settles and puts enough stress on the edge of the glass causing it to fail.
Another reason could be that the glass sustained edge damage resulting in a small crack at the edge during manufacturing and the crack continued to grow very slowly until it breached the tension layer.
One characteristic of tempered glass is that if it has edge damage it might not "release" immediately, preferring to wait around for awhile until it has a chance to scare the stuffing out of someone sitting at a stoplight or else eating breakfast in their home, or asleep at night. It makes for great conversation starter...
And finally, when glass is manufactured there is the possibility of the glass having tiny imperfections called inclusions embedded in the glass itself. These inclusions, typically nickel sulfide or possibly some other trace element, can result in problems in tempered glass. While most glass with inclusions will break during the tempering process, some of them are just stubborn enough to make it past that process and into the actual finished product. These inclusions, like their edge damaged cousins, love to wait around awhile until everyone is quietly relaxing and then POW! No more glass in the window frame
Tempered glass is created by heating a piece of regular float glass to about 1300 degrees F and very rapidly cooling it. This has the effect of placing the outer 21% of the glass into compression and the inner 58% of the glass into tension. The combination of tension and compression layers makes the glass very strong and it also is what creates the "dicing" (little tiny pieces) that you get when tempered glass breaks.
Tempered glass breaks into those little pieces anytime the center tension layer is breached. Cut into tempered glass or try drilling it and POW, lots of little pieces. There are a couple of different reasons for it. One, as earwax mentioned, if the house settles and puts enough stress on the edge of the glass causing it to fail.
Another reason could be that the glass sustained edge damage resulting in a small crack at the edge during manufacturing and the crack continued to grow very slowly until it breached the tension layer.
One characteristic of tempered glass is that if it has edge damage it might not "release" immediately, preferring to wait around for awhile until it has a chance to scare the stuffing out of someone sitting at a stoplight or else eating breakfast in their home, or asleep at night. It makes for great conversation starter...
And finally, when glass is manufactured there is the possibility of the glass having tiny imperfections called inclusions embedded in the glass itself. These inclusions, typically nickel sulfide or possibly some other trace element, can result in problems in tempered glass. While most glass with inclusions will break during the tempering process, some of them are just stubborn enough to make it past that process and into the actual finished product. These inclusions, like their edge damaged cousins, love to wait around awhile until everyone is quietly relaxing and then POW! No more glass in the window frame