Instead of a sports car, I wanted a wall full of windows with different coatings.
I’ve always wanted to know how different coatings and R-values perform on windows, but never found a location that had multiple windows next to each other with different performance. In 2019 my amazing friend Tyler Erickson, installed 5 different windows, all with different coatings on the same wall in my home. I’m not saying Tyler is amazing just for a business plug. Besides being an owner of Peak Windows, he’s been a long time good friend and for sure the hardest worker I’ve ever seen. He was onboard with this project and helped me pick 5 windows for testing. We used care to isolate variables like framing, HVAC, insulation, etc. with the goal to have each window perform as fair as possible. Since the install, many projects took me out of state, I was finally able to attach my widest germanium lens to a vanadium oxide camera for some thermographs. Even without the camera, standing next to each window on a 100 degree day it’s easy to tell what window has the highest R value. The highest treated window feels like you are standing in the shade, while the window with no treatment is dang hot. There is a gradual change of temperature when walking window to window. Part of the test was to compare how much light is blocked on each window by the treatment, but that turned out to be only slightly noticeable. Dataloggers, a physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation regardless of frequency or angle of incidence device, high emissivity coatings, ambient light sensors, thermal camera equipped drones, and software that I wrote to trigger my microbolometers, are all working now as this project sets forth. Over the next year, I’ll observe different seasons and excited to learn & share. If you have an experiment you would like me to run on this project, please message me.
Endless thanks Tyler. You’re for sure one of the most amazing guys I know. https://www.peakwindows.com
