What Does The Double Glazing Rating System Mean?
- March 19, 2018|
- News|
- Darren Clarke
The best double-glazing Cheshire has to offer can help you to ensure that you have an energy efficient home for years to come.
Looking for double-glazing can be confusing, as you will be faced with a broad number of choice and costs associated with different types of windows.
It is however, important to make sure you buy windows with the highest possible rating you can afford as these will have a direct impact on the amount of energy that is saved once you get your windows installed.
Windows are rated from A through to G, and current building regulations require all windows to be over a C rating. Some manufacturers have their own ratings, including A++ rated windows. You want to check what the British Fenestration Rating Council (BRFC) window rating is when making up your mind.
They will have an overall rating (A-G) but also information on the following aspects of the window. Windows will have a U-value which will provide information about how much heat can pass through a material. This demonstrates how good the window is at keeping in heat.
This is provided in the Thermal Transmittance, Solar Factor and Effective Air Leakage figures that are provided in the rating.
The Solar Factor is a measure of how much the sun streaming through the window will allow a room to heat up. This can be good or bad for energy efficiency, but generally in the UK where we are in a cold climate, letting heat in is good. In warmer countries windows sometimes use reflective surfaces or are darkened to reduce the solar factor so the house doesn’t heat up, reducing the amount of air conditioning required.
The Effective Air Leakage score covers the amount of draughts you can expect from a certain window type. Stopping cold air from getting in around the edges of a window frame can help to insulate your home better than just the double glazing alone.
The frame the window is in is also important for the energy efficiency of the window and this is also included when calculating the rating, as it is important for excluding draughts and the cold.
Over 20 per cent of all heat that leaves a home is through the window you can make significant savings by choosing the most efficient type. A Which? survey found that the following efficiency could be expected of different ratings: “If you were to replace all of the single-glazed windows in a three-bedroom, semi-detached house, the Energy Saving Trust says that you’d save between £75 and £100 per year with B-rated glass and £85-£110 per year with A-rated glass.”
This demonstrates it is best to make sure you get the best double glazing you can afford as you will be reaping the rewards later. The savings made from the more efficient types of double glazing could be as much as £2,000 over twenty years, which is the life expectancy of double glazed windows.
Find out more on the Which? website.
