Window Replacement

[skyking8]

Before I get to my question, let me put in a personal plug for FMCA. Each year when membership renewal comes around I consider whether or not the expense can be justified. That mental routine is the same for any other product or service I would purchase. I have found that the one thing where I absolutely get my monies worth is having access to the technical topics on this website. I suspect that it has saved me way more than the cost of membership over the years. And if not, then it has certainly helped me be a more educated consumer in RV matters.

Now to my question. I did a search of window fogging, but didn't find what I was looking for. It appears that the two windows that typically are prone to fogging are the entrance door and/or the driver's side window. First I wonder why those two? Perhaps knowing why would lead to preventative measures.

I have replaced the door window - at some expense I might add - and now the driver's window is fogging. If it can't be cleaned, then I'm going to check out replacing that window with single pane glass. As I see it, the only concern would be getting a thickness that would fit the frame. The value of thermal pane windows as it pertains to insulation is negative when one considers the low R-value and air leaks in a MH and that I'm not paying the electric bill. Not only that, I could probably get a local glass shop to do the work somewhat cheaper.

Has anyone swapped dual pane for single pane?

[garykd]

Hi skyking8,

I can not answer your question. However, if you GOOGLE "foggy RV window repair" you'll get a bunch of choices. Maybe one will work for you.

[tbutler]

There have been several discussions of fogged windows here on the forum. One of them I found via the search button in the second menu line above is Fogged Windows which explores various solutions. No one has suggested replacement with single pane so there is no information about that but perhaps some of the companies mentioned could help.

[skyking8]

I am not one to take no for an answer until it is obvious to me that it is the correct one. I've looked at the suggestions of other posts within this forum, gone online, and made a few calls to glass companies. Two things stand out. It is a common and annoying problem for RVers. Fixing it isn't rocket science, but it does take special equipment.

Apparently, if the glass panes can be seperated they can be cleaned and the gas can be replaced. The glass bead that bonds the two panels together must be seperated and then replaced. That is where the equipment comes into play. I found from my telephone calls that few facilities have this equipment. I suspect that they would rather sell a new window at twice the costs than fix two perfectly good pieces of glass.

The fact that there are at least two companies that do this procedure (mentioned in the forums) would indicate that other ones might have the capability. One thing is for sure. The equipment to fix it does exist. The solution then is to find out who else could be added to the list of "fixers."

The other thing that is apparent to me is that if it occurs on a regular basis with MH owners then the product is sub-standard. So, perhaps there is an alternative to the "standard" RV dual pane thermo window that is not prone to fogging. I personally have a problem with buying something that needs to be replaced for something other than normal wear and tear.

The membership of this forum is unique in that they have come up with numerous methods to fix owner's problems that don't involve original equipment. Perhaps this is an issue for collective minds to solve.