Author Topic: Considering Romag triple-gazing with ~25% PV coverage  (Read 43844 times)

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DamonHD

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Considering Romag triple-gazing with ~25% PV coverage
« on: April 29, 2010, 03:30:16 PM »
Hi,

I'm inching towards the dry-lining of our living room with 40mm of aerogel as previously mentioned, having lined up a very decent discount from SpaceTherm and a sensible builder, so while I'm at it I'd like to consider replacing one of the two tilt-and-side (west-facing) leaky double-glazed patio doors ~3m^2 (that we never use as a door) with a high-spec triple-glazed window with some embedded PV to provide some shading and power (to my little off-grid system as it happens) in summer.

At about 25% PV coverage I reckon that it might let in about about the same amount of light as the current door since the mechanically-strong frames are quite wide, and would have 100Wp of PV which would significantly extend my generating day in summer.

I've had a very helpful email from Romag's Technical Director, with some sketches, etc, and outline specs:

10mm laminate with cells encapsulated/16 argon/6 planitherm total/12 cavity/6 planithern Total (50mm total), cf 4mm toughened Diamant outer pane, 6mm cavity with Krypton, 4mm toughened Planitherm Total, 8mm cavity with Krypton, 4mm toughened Planitherm Total (28mm) from our friendly local double-glazer.

U value < 0.8 (W/m^2K) it seems, which is good.

Now although this is an experiment in collecting renewable energy in novel ways in a domestic setting (as well as improving insulation of course) we also have to live with what it looks like (and what it might cost), so I expect a little more back-and-forth before we can decide.

Rgds

Damon
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GaryGary

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Re: Considering Romag triple-gazing with ~25% PV coverage
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2010, 10:13:37 AM »
Hi,
Can you tell us what a "good discount" gets the price of aerogel down to?

Any thoughts on how you would actually install it?  That is, how to protect it from damage?

Gary

SparWeb

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Re: Considering Romag triple-gazing with ~25% PV coverage
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2010, 01:45:52 PM »
Damon,
I recently started reading a technical book about high-efficiency houses so suddenly I'm much more conversant in the solar energy lingo than before.  The houses in an IEA solar home project had windows with U values like what you've given there, but that was back in the 90's. 

Another thing brought up in the book is the thermal conductivity of the frame - obviously a lot of heat can escape through aluminum frame work if there is no disconnect between warm side to cold side.  Is there such a thing as a patio door with reduced thermal bridge?  There's a structural requirement for a door to be much more sturdy than a window, so suddenly I'm wondering if these suppliers have addressed that.
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DamonHD

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Re: Considering Romag triple-gazing with ~25% PV coverage
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2010, 05:38:08 PM »
There's such as thing as a "warm edge" spacer bar, and a whole-window U-value, which seem to me to address this issue.

Rgds

Damon
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