Double-paned windows are made up of two layers of glass. Are you wondering how to clean double paned windows? Are you trying to find a way to clean inside double pane windows?
Two glasses are brought together by leaving a small space inside glass panels to form paned windows.
The Air packet trapped inside two glasses acts as an insulator to save you from chilling cold outside. Also, it helps to minimize heat loss.
Reasons why there is dirt and haze inside the double paned window.
For good insulation, air must be trapped inside the window pan. Trapped air maintains the temperature at a constant level. It helps in proper heat insulation.
To achieve this effect, windows are sealed with sealant.
Old windows tend to break the seal naturally. After some years of use, the old seal weakens and ultimately breaks down.
Another factor is exposure to direct sunlight. Due to sunlight, glass panels expand and during nighttime, contraction happens.
This continuous process leads to a weak seal of the window.
Once the seal is leaked, moister and dirt can easily enter inside the window pan. Moister leads to form fog inside the window pan.
Hazy windows adversely affect vision through windows. Also, it adds ugliness to your home.
Is it easy to clean paned windows?
Whenever there is fog in paned windows, the only reason is the presence of moister inside two panes of glass of your window. Whenever the seal of the glass window gets beaked, the moister seeps inside to make a haze.
If you want to clean it, you need to separate glass panes from the window and have to clean them separately. These glass panes cannot be separated without breaking the seal of glass windows.
While breaking the seal, you must be careful. Window glass should not be damaged.
After cleaning, you have to put both the glass panes into place. A most challenging task is keeping moister outside the windows pan.
Whenever you are joining both the panes, there is always a chance to get moister trapped inside the gap. In fact, you are trying to get rid of the moister already there in your paned windows.
In such conditions, to clean the windows by taking off the glass, an expert is needed. If you are not an expert, you have to call one.
You can also take notice of advice from others that change double paned windows. You can always go for it. But changing double paned windows will take a toll on your pocket.
To minimize the cost of changing windows, you can go for a single pan window. But again, it won’t serve the purpose. Single pan windows will not heat insulate your house.
Overall, it is a tricky affair. But don’t worry.
I will discuss here all the methods to clean double paned windows.
As cleaning your window by removing glass panes is not an easy task and required expertise and precision, I am explaining methods here to clean double paned windows without removing the glasses from your window.
Methods to clean double paned windows.
Here are four easy methods to remove moister and dirt from your double paned windows without having too much expertise with you.
All these methods are Do It Yourself – DIY type solutions of paned window cleaning.
Without any further delay, let us dive in!
Method 1 – Use of hairdryer to remove moister from the window
Use your hair dryer to remove moister from double paned windows. Just put on your hair dryer and point it out in the foggy area of your window. Logic is that, after getting evaporated due to hot air flow, water will be removed from the double paned window in the form of vapors.
If water entered into the double paned window, there must be an inlet available. The same inlet may act as an exit route for moisture.
But keep in mind that this may be a temporary remedy. Still, you haven’t found the broken seal in your window and hence it is much possible that moisture may re-enter the paned window.
To solve the issue permanently, you have to seal the leak after finding it. Also, before sealing put desiccate packets or moister absorbent inside the double paned window. It will help to absorb and lock the moister remaining if any.
To put moister absorbent inside the paned window, you may need to drill a hole inside the paned window. This drill may be done in the seal.
Method 2 – Use of water snake near the bottom of the paned window
Use a water snake near the bottom of the paned window. Water snakes are nothing but a kind of moister absorbent.
By placing a water snake near the window, you are trying to absorb moister present inside the window. Also, it helps to avoid the entry of new moisture inside the paned window.
As a water snake is put near the window, it also absorbs moister present nearby but outside the paned window and thus reduces the chances of moister entering inside the window.
Method 3 – Use Isopropyl Alcohol to remove fog
Use Isopropyl Alcohol to remove fog. This will help to condense moister or fog. Isopropyl Alcohol will help to convert water vapors causing less or no vision through your window into the water. It will settle at the bottom of the paned window.
In this method, to pour Isopropyl Alcohol and collect water from the window, you need to drill two holes inside the window seal. One hole is to be drilled at the top corner and another at the bottom.
After you got the moister out, seal both the holes with sealant properly to avoid re-entry of any moister inside the window pan.
If you do not have Isopropyl Alcohol with you, you can deploy desiccators also.
Method 4 – Putting Humidifier near the window
Put a dehumidifier near the window. You can use a dehumidifier machine or any other l dehumidifier material available at your disposal such as Damp Rid. You can also use any other dehumidifier such as charcoal briquettes. The dehumidifier also helps to stop mold growth.
Precautions
- Always take precautions while exercising the option of drilling holes in the window. It may turn into a risky process for you. If it goes wrong, you may need to replace the window.
- Anyhow, if carefully drilled holes in the window, sealing them permanently is not recommended as you still not knowing where the initial leak is. If the cleaning is required again, you can reuse these drilled holes only.
- If you found the original leak, you can seal the same along with the two holes you drilled. Keep in mind that before sealing, ensure to remove all the moisture from paned windows.
- Keeping desiccators packets inside paned windows before sealing is the best idea. It will help to absorb and lock the moister present inside if any.
Conclusion:
Cleaning the moister from a panned window can be done by taking little precaution easily. After going through this guide, no more you will wonder – How to clean double paned windows? Depending on the severity, you can choose any one of the methods mentioned above can get rid of the unclean double paned windows.