Which Glass is Right for You?

Which glass is right for your Andersen windows? This is a question we get asked in the showroom all the time. When choosing glass there are 4 primary factors that are important to consider, u-factor, solar heat gain, visible light transmittance and UV protection.

• U-factor – This is how well the glass keeps heat from escaping .
• Solar Heat Gain – How well the glass keeps heat from penetrating the home from sunlight.
• Visible Light Transmittance – The amount of light coming into the home.
• UV Protection – How well the glass protects your interior from ultra violet rays.

As you can see the choice of what type of glass you use is dependent of where you live. Do you live in a colder climate where the main concern is keeping heat in? Or is your main concern lowering the solar heat gain from the brutal heat of the sun? Here in New England glass needs to work much harder than in other locations as we have all of the weather factors. In the winter it can get very cold, we want to keep our home warm and the heating cost down. We also have a few months of the year where the heat of the summer sun can affect our cooling costs. Therefore, we need glass that will be multi-faceted having effective
u-factors as well as solar heat gain coefficients.

Andersen offers many different types of glass. Low-E4, Smartsun, Sun Glass, Passive Sun, Triple Pane and Heat lock. So which is the best option for our area? One of the best options for our ever changing climate is Low-E4. This glass and its low e-coating reflects the heat of the summer and keep the heat in our home in the winter. This is the standard glass that we use most often and is available on all Andersen products. Smartsun glass gives you the benefit of the Low E 4 and adds an additional coating of low e between the glass to help reflect more of heat from the summer sun. Heat lock again starts with the Low-E4 and adds an additional coating on the glass. This coating reflects the heat back into your home keeping it from escaping. Andersen also offers a triple pane glass option on their A-series and E-series products. The extra pane of glass helps keep more heat in and cold air out. This option can be paired with the other glass coatings to get the highest performance for keeping your heating costs down. Andersen offers laminated, decorative and privacy glass as well.