Storm Door Question

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Bob Jones
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Storm Door Question

#1 Post by Bob Jones »

I recently had a Provia Door and Storm Door installed. I was told by the salesman that I should get LoE glass on the storm door to prevent fading and heat build up between the storm and the prime door.

Since the install, we are experiencing a tremendous amount of heat. The hardware gets so hot even when the outside temperature is in the 60's that we can barely touch the door handle. Is this normal? I thought LoE glass was supposed to prevent heat build up.

toddinmn
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Re: Storm Door Question

#2 Post by toddinmn »

The low-e can make the heat stay in longer.
Perhaps adjust the weatherstrip at the bottom to let more air in to venilate. Dark prime doors and full view glass can add to the problem, I have seen the vinyl molding around the glass melt before on a dark prime door that faced the sun. Some brands offer vented Storms for this reason.

Bob Jones
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Re: Storm Door Question

#3 Post by Bob Jones »

Why would Provia offer LoE glass on a storm door if it could cause this kind of damage? I don't get it.

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Delaware Mike
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Re: Storm Door Question

#4 Post by Delaware Mike »

Sales guy didn't know what he was doing in my opinion. I ran into this last year with a very fussy customer who was border line impossible to deal with. They wanted what they wanted and it took a lot of extra work and tweaking with the door and storm door to get them into the right fit for their house. We would up doing a textured ProVia fiberglass stained door in a medium oak but, I refused the full view storm door and they wouldn't go with tinted bronze or gray glass. I was able to convince them with the help of the senior customer service rep over at ProVia (Randy), that a Spectrum full-view retractable screen door with the top and sometimes bottom sashes vented into a slightly open position would be the only way to let the heat out and not damage the door.

Bob Jones
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Re: Storm Door Question

#5 Post by Bob Jones »

I guess what I'm having trouble understanding is why the heat is penetrating the glass as much as it is. I thought that was the whole purpose of LoE glass. That and also to block the UV rays.

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Delaware Mike
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Re: Storm Door Question

#6 Post by Delaware Mike »

Low-e doesn't exactly work like that. Short wave goes through the glass pretty much turns to long wave and becomes a Tesla death oven trapped in there. That didn't sound very scientific and perhaps one of the pros with an engineering background will mostly chime in to explain better.

You asked why ProVia would have this option? My first thought would be so that the glass would be hard to clean and the wife could always be mad at her husband it when he tried once to have her clean it, after that she will make him do it as that's what my girlfriend did to me when I did your option to my own door back in 2005. A more straight forward answer would be that in the application of not direct sunlight and a porch that doesn't have an actual entry door and has a light duty heat source?

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Windows on Washington
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Re: Storm Door Question

#7 Post by Windows on Washington »

Still has to be vented. Enough head will store up in there to literally cook the door off the frame if it is is dark and orientated toward the South.

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Delaware Mike
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Re: Storm Door Question

#8 Post by Delaware Mike »

Yup, that is why I like that Spectrum door as it's very easy to just unlock and vent on days with Sun.

TheWindowNerd
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Re: Storm Door Question

#9 Post by TheWindowNerd »

HMI offers a heat vent option on their storm doors which we readily use.

theWindowNerd....

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