Please tell me you guys know about double (or now triple) glazing? right?
Double paned windows are basically standard.
I looked at getting trippled paned windows a while back, and the benefits were marginal compared to double paned from the same company. It seems that once you’re already in the higher end of the market, they don’t do much over good double paned.
Yes, but also no. There are a bunch of other factors that contribute to a windows performance; manufacturer, type of gas used in the cavity, spacer material conductivity, thermal bridge free frame design, low e coatings and solar reflectance, and the quality of the installation matters most. Then there’s the windows efficiency relative to the rest of the assembly. If it’s a building code basic 2x4 wall from 1970 then you’re absolutely right, it would be overkill putting some triple pane krypton filled window in. But if you’ve got a foot of exterior insulation and are pushing a u value of 0.13 on your wall assembly then you need windows to match.
Source: certified Passive House designer, the most demanding energy standard for buildings available, that originated in … yup you guessed it, Germany.
I have a relatively new house (built 2006). I came to the conclusion that the extra money spent on triple paned windows would be more effectively spent on improvements elsewhere. Like a heat pump or hybrid water heater.
In the end, we weren’t able to swing the windows at all, but did replace our crappy doors.
