Article 1080763 of alt.home.repair: Path: news.misty.com!not-for-mail From: nicksanspam@ece.villanova.edu Newsgroups: alt.home.repair Subject: Re: ARGON vs VACUUM in double pane windows Date: 27 Feb 2009 10:19:45 -0500 Organization: Villanova University Lines: 24 Message-ID: References: <5mr9p4pob7afeli3c5s5tjompoc6vdirbj@4ax.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: acadia.ece.villanova.edu X-Trace: max.inside.misty.com 1235747986 23832 153.104.44.130 (27 Feb 2009 15:19:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@misty.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:19:46 +0000 (UTC) Xref: news.misty.com alt.home.repair:1080763 Oren wrote: >Does argon gas in a window refract sun light in the summer, out of the >house and keep heat in the house in winter? No, but it insulates better than air. My 8 new site-built low-mass sunspace "windows" are 4'-wide x 16'-tall twin layers of $1/ft^2 10-mil HP92W polycarbonate film on flat 1x3 frames with 3M 4432 double-sided vinyl tape and 1/8"x3/4" painted steel cap strips and silicone caulk at the corners. Each panel has 2 1/8" ID polyethylene tubes at the bottom. They are inflated in series with DOT push tubing couplers (truck parts) to 0.15" of water with dry air from a $10 12V tire compressor (PV-powered, of course) in a boxful of Tyvek clay desiccant bags, with a Dwyer 1710-0 pressure switch, for less wrinkling and wind fatigue. It looks like they don't leak at all (we tested them with a soap bubble solution.) If the compressor never runs again, we plan to fill them with argon. Nick