There is more and more talk these days comparing triple glazing with vacuum glass units, so as a manufacturer of both we thought we’d lay out the facts.
Our friends at the Passive House Institute have been testing our certified component GVG ranges since 2019, with both our triple glazing and our vacuum glass, and the Passive House Institute isothermal colour charts show the impressive heat retention clearly, but which option is best, the triple glazed unit or a Vacuum unit? Let’s ask some questions…
Are they a similar price?
Pricewise our Werkman Tech units have a slightly higher m2 rate, but not by much these days, and as our prices continue to fall we can all see the cost of triple glazing inching up. It will be getting a lot worse next year when the new commercial high use energy prices go up by 25%.
Do they have a similar U value?
U values now, and both have a similar centre pane Ug value, no real difference between the best triple glazing at 0.53 and our vacuum units at 0.452 W/m2K,
Do they have a similar life span?
We think the expected life spans are where one of the main differences lies. Triple glazing is maybe 15-20 years at best, our vacuum is 50-60 years at best, so a win for vacuum here.
Which one is greener?
Finally, for green issues, vacuum uses 1/3 less glass, no gas and no plastic/metal spacers, no butyl rubber sealing and no silicones. Also no need to replace the units every 15-20 years so we think it’s fair to say that vacuum units are very much the green option.
What is the lead time to deliver?
Finally, we come to the lead time and an 8 week lead in is going to be around from us for a long time, certainly until fossil fuels come down in price in Europe, and then we will be opening a production line here to eliminate that last issue, too.
As for negatives with vacuum, there are several and the price is one, but we are bringing it down. The main negative is the dots and we’ve made ours far smaller this year, but as an industry we are all working on the issue and we hope to see them become invisible with our nano technology in the next two years.
Our final verdict? There’s a good shout for both, triple glazing wins for lead times and for clear dot free viewing, but vacuum pips it on green issues and the longer life span.
