What does film do for me in the Winter time???

[b_faulk75]

Hey, I know that the film blocks the sun and heat in the summer but what about winter, I have been asked this a few times by customers and don't know how to respond. I am curious too. If the film blocks out the suns heat, wouldn't it actually cost me more to heat in the winter? I just need a real answer to give my customers. Thanks...

[Guest JTKSDB]

I feel that in the winter you will get a more uniform temp throughout the home or office. Because the rooms that are tinted aren't heating up so much that the thermostadt is reading too hot and therefore not heating the rest of the areas. You don't have the "cold" rooms that you can have in the winter because the thermostadt is reading the warmer rooms.

Not sure I explained it right, but I hope you get the idea.

[Tinitman]

There is no film out there that will block all of the heat, they block some of the heat. There is heat going through the glass, but not as much as before.

Window films reflect between 5% to 15% of the heat back inside the home during the winter months. That being said, if the homeowner is dependant on the windows to generated heat during the winter months, they will not experience that same amount of heat generated in the home.

Here in Texas, we only run our furnace maybe two months throughout the year. The remaining ten months the A/C is mainly turned on. For us, our benefit is heat rejection during the warm months. We spend more money to stay cool than to stay warm.

[Slick]

I have never been that big into flat glass so I'm sure somebody is going to chime in here and correct me...and feel free to do so, but this is what I always thought and it makes sense to me....not that that is saying much

Feel the inside of untinted glass in the winter....its cold. Feel the inside of tinted glass in the winter....its warm. So it's acting as an insulator to the glass. Seems to me, the coldest part of a room is around the window...hence the reason the registers are always placed under them, at least that is what I always figured. So if you have added a warm insulation barrier to the coldest part of the room....hasnt the tint done its job?

[TintWizard]

Film doesn't do too much as an insulation factor in the winter(wish they would come up with a film that does for up north) Here's how I would respond to the original question (for up in Canada anyways)

"Fact is if you consider how many hrs of the yr the sun is facing the right direction to heat up a house in the winter, it's no comparision to the savings on the AC the rest of the yr (unless your in Alaska )"

"Your grass only grow half the yr and it only snows 4 months a yr, so since you cant get the benefit out of a snow shovel or a lawnmower all yr round, does that stop you from needing the product? "

Problem solved

[Guest tallscott]

Try" The purpose of the low-e coating on your window is to re-radiate heat back into your house during winter. Window film has a percentage of solar absorbance that will help increase the temp. within the IG unit to provide a warmer "Air" barrier between the inside and out. Just a shot!!

[Guest darkdan]

There's more darkness than light during our winter. So you don't lose much free heating from the sun anyways because it's only light out for 8 hours a day and most days it's overcast.

However, the sun is a lot lower and thus increases glare. The snow increases the glare.

There are Low-E films folks! They insulate well enough. However, warranty period is shorter, films are reflective, and usually 20% or 35% VLT. Regular films insulate a little bit.

Stopping the heat leaving is a function of the dual pane windows IMO. Plus, everyone up here has low-e surface 2 anyhow.

Plus I'm sure the energy savings in the summer far outweigh what you might lose in the winter from not getting free heat from the sun.

[Guest FilmBlazer]

It depends on the film and the glass. Most neutral or metalized films do less than 3% or less on dual pane insulated glass. Some Low E films can retain up to 20% on clear dual pane glass, but as Dan said they are reflective.... On both sides and are not available in DR series by any manufacturer to my knowledge.

Get a spec sheet from you manufacturer. You should be able to look up the benefits offered by each film based on the glazing system.

Single pane benefits are more as one would expect.

[b_faulk75]

Alright now I am really going for stupid, but what does low E stand for??? I completely agree that the sun is lower in the winter and with the snow the glare is greatly increased, that is definitely a benefit to having film. I have never paid enough attention to see if the glass is actually warmer when tinted than an untinted glass, I will check that out. Anyone else??? Low Emissivity???

[b_faulk75]

Also what does the Winter U value stand for in the film specs?