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Thermal break double glazing


captain flint

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Hi all

First of all thanks to people who have posted on other threads about double glazing options and desireability. I have been reading what I can find, but obviously if I have missed any relevant threads, I'll be grateful if people can point me in the right direction (I'm certainly not epecting people to repeat what they've already said elsewhere, which I know can get some people's goat!)

I need to fit two windows and am thinking about going for thermal break double glazed windows. I know they're pricey! There may well be a few different options for where to get these, so far I have just been looking at Wesley Windows. They reckon that their system is good for boats - I know that the vibrations and general movement of boats has been pointed out to be a potential weakness for double glazing, but they seem to think they have solved this.

I know that secondary DG gets a lot of votes, and I can see why, so I definitely have that as an option which I am not discounting. There is a lot on this site singing it's values and giving helpful tips on how to fix it well, etc. But I also seem to recall someone else saying that if the money was there, thermal break DG windows would be optimal. So, I'd kind of like this thread to be more about Thermal Break DG if that's OK (but of course, you know, feel free to say whatever you like. I know you will, anyway! :))

I say that, and then I realise I am going hijack my own thread with the next detail! The boat in question has no stove, but has a kabola diesel heating system professionally installed, I don't know which one, sadly - I should, really as the Deposit is down on the boat, awaiting survey, but there we go. I may well get a stove installed at some point, they are lovely, and I make sure to "reserve" a good spot for one, as it were. But I am also - masochistically? - interested to see how this heating unit gets me through a winter by itself - the boat is well fitted out and insulated and not too old, and I figure some good quality DG might be an idea, since I have to put new windows in anyway.

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2 hours ago, captain flint said:

interested to see how this heating unit gets me through a winter by itself - the boat is well fitted out and insulated and not too old, and I figure some good quality DG might be an idea, since I have to put new windows in anyway.

We have a Kabola HR300 and initial impressions are good (We have owned the boat 3 months). Ours has a timer and standard room thermostat (something many of the others are not recommended to have), along with individual thermostats on the radiators.  Warm up is very fast (first radiator gets warm after a couple of minutes).

Our previous boat had a Webasto and it used to suffer from the cycling that others report - often leading to running issues over time.

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4 hours ago, heyjude999 said:

We have had Wesley thermal break windows for about 3 years now, bloody brilliant!!!

good to hear!

5 hours ago, Phil Ambrose said:

Not true, it is possible to live aboard quite comfortably without a stove 

Phil

Yeah, I figured. In fact, now I come to think of it, I've done it. It was not a great heating system, though, and it broke down when the canal was frozen over. That was an interesting night. 

Of course, it will depend on the boat, but I figure it will be interesting to see what it's like without one and to know a bit more about the realities of the boat!

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5 hours ago, captain flint said:

good to hear!

Yeah, I figured. In fact, now I come to think of it, I've done it. It was not a great heating system, though, and it broke down when the canal was frozen over. That was an interesting night. 

Of course, it will depend on the boat, but I figure it will be interesting to see what it's like without one and to know a bit more about the realities of the boat!

There are many options for heating boats other than a SF stove. I know one chap who heated his boat with an Alde running entirely through fin rads, in fact fitting out his next boat, a wide beam, he intends to use the same method so it obviously works for him. We ran our 60' NB on a mix of fin rads and radiators fired by an Ellis gas boiler

Though I do believe that a SF fire is the best option, that doesn't mean that other options don't exist.

Phil

Edited by Phil Ambrose
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  • 1 year later...

I’m not sure if this will work... but is it possible to revive this thread from a while back. I’m considering thermal break against double glazed on a new build. Does anyone else have any direct experience of the benefits of thermal break? My builder is sceptical and seems to think that there will still be condensation thought he doesn’t have direct experience.

 

thanks

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2 hours ago, Malc_sh said:

I’m not sure if this will work... but is it possible to revive this thread from a while back. I’m considering thermal break against double glazed on a new build. Does anyone else have any direct experience of the benefits of thermal break? My builder is sceptical and seems to think that there will still be condensation thought he doesn’t have direct experience.

 

thanks

There is actually quite a number of threads going into thermal break, double glazing, etc. on here with a wealth of information (ie opinions!) on this. Sometimes it works better to search the forum via Google (I find), just adding "canalworld.net" to your search term, eg

 

Double glazing "canalworld.net"

 

Incidentally, you may read of some very good, cheap solutions, too, for example, after reading about it on here, i bought "ecoglaze" from 365plastics.com (there are a number of different products with the name "ecoglaze", so include 365plastics.com in your Google search if you're interested). 

 

For about 300 I got 14 pieces of acrylic, cut to size for all the wibdows on my 50x10 boat. Magnetic strips (available in white or brown) hold them in place. The difference is astonishing. Not just retaining heat better, but, somehow, eradicating the hot and cold spots issue, and the hot ceiling, cold floor factor. 

 

I haven't had any issues with condensation, but I've got a few sachets of silica gel in the gap between window and acrylic, to be on the safe side. 

 

I expect 'real' double glazing may be even better, certainly will look better (mine looks OK, it really does, but - from the inside - not quite as nice as if just windows, I'll admit). So I expect you'll go with that. Just a thought, though, in case the money you save might be useful to be spent on something else. 

 

Good luck! 

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