Doors
Patio Doors Glass Options
LoElite™ Glass| LoElite™ Heat Mirror Glass| Tempered Glass| Bathroom and Privacy Glass | Solar Tuning with Glass | Glass Terminology | NFRC Performance Ratings
Glass
Accent Windows has employed the latest technology to develop and offer the best-performing glass systems on the market, including LoElite™ glass, Privacy glass and Tempered glass. Also, learn about how Accent can Solar Tune your home with glass.
Here at Accent Windows we know the importance of customizing each opening in your home, which is why we offer many options for energy-efficient glass. As glass comprises 90% of the opening area, the type of glass system you choose can have a significant impact on the level of energy savings. Regardless of which glass system you choose, you can be assured of receiving a quality, energy-efficient glass system that has been specialized to meet the needs of your home. For assistance, schedule an appointment with a certified and trained Accent specialist who can recommend a glass option best suited for your home.
Accent Windows has the answers to homeowners most-asked questions about glass.
Q: How important is choosing the right glass for our windows?
A: Choosing the right replacement windows for your home will lower your energy bill, make your home more comfortable and reduce outside noise. Choosing the right glass for your windows is the most important factor in your decision. The right glass can help you to cut down the significant amount of energy that is wasted due to air escaping outside. Accent glass systems are designed to provide you with year-round savings and comfort by optimizing the sun's heat and maximizing the efficiency of your home's heating and cooling systems.
Q: How are Accent's glass systems different from other company's glass?
A: Many companies provide glass with reflective coatings and low emissivity ratings. What sets Accent apart is that our glass units and window frames are designed and engineered to furnish our customers with a complete window system. This allows us to offer complete window systems with some of the best performance ratings in the industry. Each component used to produce Accent Windows’ LoElite low-emissivity glass products are chosen because of their superior quality. In addition, Accent offers the exclusive Heat Mirror glass system, which provides even greater benefits to you.
Q: What is the Heat Mirror glass system and how does it benefit me?
A: Accent Windows’ Heat Mirror glass system takes low- emissivity glass one step further. The system is created using a unique patented process in which clear, colorless, coated film is permanently suspended between two panes of glass. This suspended film divides the air space into two smaller compartments, which in turn provide additional performance and thermal protection. This provides maximum protection from the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays, superior solar heat gain performance and the highest glass R-values available. Combined with Argon or Krypton gas, Heat Mirror glass units provide comfort, protection and energy savings.
Q: What are some other benefits of Accent Windows glass systems?
A: By cutting down on the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays, Accent Windows glass systems prevent fading and discoloration of your home’s interior, including carpets, drapes, wall coverings, and stained or painted wood surfaces. You'll get a quick return on your investment because you won't need to replace your carpet, drapes or wallpaper as often as before.
Q: What other upgrades are available from Accent Windows for my home?
A: Gas fillings are a cost-effective way to improve a window's performance. Krypton gas is heavier than air, thereby resulting in improvements in thermal performance and sound control. Argon gas is also a less-expensive option, but provides slightly lower performance. Both gas fills are offered on select Accent Windows products.
Q: How do I know which Accent Windows glass system is best for my home?
A: Each Accent Windows consultant is specially trained and certified to both educate you on your options and recommend the best products for you. Accent Windows custom designs each window and glass system based on your needs and requirements.
LoElite™ Glass
Accent Windows’ LoElite™ Glass is ideal for any home. LoElite™ glass products from Accent Windows give you year-round energy savings and comfort by helping manage the heating and cooling systems in your home.
Accent Windows LoElite™ insulated glass units are double or triple-coated with microscopically-thin, optically transparent layers of silver oxide, and then filled with argon gas, which increases the air density giving you maximum insulation. LoElite™ combined with argon gas gives you the warmest indoor center glass temperatures under winter nighttime conditions, and the coolest indoor center glass temperatures under summer daytime conditions.
LoElite™ glass can block up to 95% of UV rays and Infra-Red while still allowing for solar heat gain. Accent’s LoElite™ glass will improve your home’s energy efficiency, reduce exterior noise, help prevent condensation, and protect your carpet, drapes, furniture and hard wood from fading.
Heat Mirror Glass
In 1979, Southwall Technologies began producing Heat Mirror, a clear low reflectivity solar control film with a ceramic coating only a few hundred atoms thick that is suspended between two panes of glass. Suspending the film between two panes of glass creates smaller, more energy-efficient compartments, and provides additional thermal protection without the weight of a third piece of glass. These windows, which provides the highest R-values available, are the best-performing windows on the market, preventing heat from escaping in the winter and reflecting it back out during the summer. In 2000, Popular Science magazine ranked Heat Mirror as one of the top 100 inventions of the millennium. Accent Windows has an exclusive agreement with Southwall Technologies to manufacture and sell residential Heat Mirror windows in the Rocky Mountain region.
Empire State Building becomes more energy-efficient with Heat Mirror windows - read article.
HOW HEAT MIRROR BATTLES HEAT TRANSFER
- Radiant Heat is Reflected back to its source by LOE coatings on the glass and film.
- Convective Heat is slowed by using suspended film, which cuts the air space in half by minimizing convective looping. These cavities are filled with Krypton, which
shortens and slows the convection loop. - Conductive Heat is slowed by multiple cavities and low conductive spacer material such as steel (steel is 1/3 as conductive as aluminum).
Popular Science 2000 ranked Heat Mirror, which provides the highest R-values available, as one of the top 100 inventions of the millennium.
LoElite™ Heat Mirror Glass
Accent Windows manufactures "Heat Mirror" glass, the highest performing glass package on the market. Our LoElite™ Heat Mirror glass is our top-of-the-line glass package featuring microscopically thin, optically transparent layers of silver oxide that are applied to the glass. The Heat Mirror film is then suspended between two panes of glass, baked at 180 degrees and filled with argon or krypton gasses. These units provide maximum insulation resulting in one of the most energy efficient windows on the market.
The shading and insulating properties of LoElite™ windows help you to reduce energy bills year round. Heat Mirror windows block up to 99.5% of UV and Infra-Red rays, thereby substantially improving your home’s energy efficiency, reducing exterior noise, helping to prevent condensation, and protecting your carpet, drapes, furniture and hard wood from fading.
Radiant Heated Glass
Radiant glass is created by passing an electric current through a thin, transparent, conductive metal oxide (TCO) that has been deposited on the surface of glass. The oxide is inherently resistant to the flow of electricity, so passing a current through this film will cause the film to heat up and, in turn, heat the glass as well. How hot the glass becomes is directly proportional to the amount of current applied.
- The world's first fully integrated, ETL-certified heated glass window
- Condensation resistance rating of 100 with higher temperature settings
- Comfortable, warm glass eliminates the need for forced-air window wash
- Digital control temperature setting range up to 100° F
- Normal window installation with standard J box electrical connection
- Potential increased insulated glass longevity with reduced IG temperature swings
- Designed and engineered by Energized Glass
Tempered Glass
Tempered glass is a heat-strengthened safety glass that shatters into small, blunt glass fragments rather than sharp, more dangerous pieces. Tempered glass is required by federal law to be used in potentially hazardous locations including entry doors, patio doors, sidelights, shower stalls, windows less than 18 inches from the floor, and windows within three feet of a door.
Bathroom and Privacy Glass
Create an elegant look with Accent’s privacy and bathroom glass. This glass can be used for all applications, including windows, doors, sidelights, transoms and shapes.
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Solar Tuning with Glass
Solar Tuning has become popular with many of our customers in recent years. Solar Tuning allows for different glass options to be placed in your windows and patio doors depending on the exposure the opening may have in relation to the sun. For instance, by choosing a glass option that allows for solar heat gain in the winter time (east or south) while at the same time offering a high r-value (retaining heat inside your house), you can benefit from the heat gained through exposure to the sun in the winter and save on energy usage. This option is also a comfort consideration if you have a breakfast table or nook area that faces east. For the summer, you can choose glass options that do just the opposite - no solar heat gain (usually west) - so that your home stays cooler and you save money on air conditioning usage. In addition, for those concerned about Ultra Violet light damage, our glass options can block up to 99.5% of harmful UV rays. Accent windows offers many glass options to accommodate Solar Tuning for your windows and patio doors. Ask an Accent certified specialist about Solar Tuning your home!
Glass Terminology
Terminology to Help You Understand How a Window is Rated
R-Value: A window’s resistance to heat loss. This number is the inverse of the U-Value. The higher the R-Value and lower the U-Value, the more efficient the window is in reducing your winter heating and summer cooling costs.
U-Value: How well a product prevents heat from escaping a home or building, based on conditions of 0° outside and 70° inside. The lower the U-Value, the better the product is at reducing heat loss.
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: How well a product blocks heat from the sun. The lower the number, the better the product is at blocking unwanted heat gain.
Visible Light Transmittance: How much light comes through a product. VT is expressed as a number between 0 and 1 - the higher the Visible Transmittance number, the more light shines through the product.
Ultraviolet Light Transmittance: The amount of Ultraviolet Light Transmittance in the solar spectrum that is transmitted through a window. This can cause fading of carpets, drapes, furniture, hardwood floors, etc. The lower the number, the better the window system is at reducing the fading potential of these materials.
Air Resistance (AAMA): Airtightness is measured by applying 75 pascals of pressure — the equivalent of a steady 25 mph wind to the outside of the window. Interior air infiltration is then measured in cubic feet per minute per foot of window joint.
*Results are from national tests under the following standards:
AAMANWDA1011.S2-‐97