Argon Filled Windows At High Altitude

Milgard is now making windows in salt lake city and offering argon gas as an option to those of us at 6000.

Argon filled windows at high altitude.

Secondarily we can sell the windows with capillary tubes or air filled. Argon permeation is greater than air for most ig sealants which can result in negative pressure in the ig air space. While an air filled gap between two panes helps improve window efficiency argon or krypton gas infills are even better. There are also concerns about maintaining the gas fill levels over time.

It is also likely that water vapor will gradually enter the ig unit resulting in fogging if enough moisture gets in. These inert gases are denser than regular air so they slow heat transfer to a crawl keeping more of the heated air inside your high altitude home. These units will not qualify for the tax credit and will not meet energy star northern region. When windows are filled with a special low conductivity gas such as argon or krypton it is clear that those gases will be lost over time if capillary tubes are left open.

Argon filled units also cannot use breather tubes for high altitude applications. One competing window rep claims that all windows regardless of elevation will lose their gas fill over time because of the small size of the argon or krypton atoms.