WINDOW “FIRE” WARNING: Low E Energy Windows a “HIDDEN” WORLDWIDE FIRE PLAN . . .

https://www.wral.com/-the-next-asbestos-scientist-says-low-e-windows-cause-dangerous-reflection/17553558/

5 ON YOUR SIDE – TV REPORTING

‘THE NEXT ASBESTOS’: SCIENTIST SAYS LOW-E WINDOWS CAUSE DANGEROUS REFLECTION

POSTED MAY 14, 2018  UPDATED JULY 13, 2018

RALEIGH, N.C. — THEY’RE REFLECTIONS FROM A WINDOW STRONG ENOUGH TO MELT SIDING ON HOMES AND EVEN START FIRES.

IT’S AN ISSUE WITH ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOWS THAT 5 ON YOUR SIDE HAS INVESTIGATED FOR YEARS. NOW, A FORENSIC SCIENTIST HAS REACHED OUT TO MONICA LALIBERTE WITH CONCERNS.

Read more “WINDOW “FIRE” WARNING: Low E Energy Windows a “HIDDEN” WORLDWIDE FIRE PLAN . . .”

Energy-efficient windows blamed for starting fires

https://www.wral.com/energy-efficient-windows-blamed-for-starting-fires/16558762/

Energy-efficient windows blamed for starting fires

 — Investigators told Nancy Monda that the first fire at her Davie County home appeared to be arson.

Monda’s security cameras filmed the yard smoking at first, then the flames appeared. The fire raced across her yard and surrounded a propane tank.

A nearby landscaping crew tried to trample the flames that surrounded the tank, but it was at least 20 minutes until professional help arrived to extinguish the fire.

WINDOWS CAUSE FIRES: Reflections of a Product Defect | Safety Research & Strategies, Inc.

http://www.safetyresearch.net/blog/articles/reflections-product-defect

Reflections of a Product Defect

Some homeowners try to reduce their maintenance time and costs by cladding their homes with vinyl. Others try to reduce their heating and cooling bills by installing energy efficient low-e windows. And if one of these types of homeowners lives close enough to the other, and the angle of the sun and the time of year is just right, these estimable goals can result in a fire.

Low-e windows are double-or triple paned with a thin metal or metallic oxide coating applied to one or two of the inner or outer surfaces, and in some cases, an inert gas with low thermal conductivity, such as argon or krypton, is funneled between the panes. The window’s emissivity refers to its tendency to radiate absorbed heat. The transparent glass allows sunlight to pass through but the metallic coating and gas layer reduces the transmission of the sun’s heat. In colder climates, low-e windows improve a home’s thermal insulation, keeping heat in. In warmer climates, low-e windows can keep a home cool by keeping the sun’s heat out.

The construction of low-e windows also increases its reflectivity – untreated glass windows reflect 10 percent of the sun’s rays; low-e windows reflect 30 to 50 percent of sunlight.

Low-e window heat-damage incidents are artifacts of modern construction. Vinyl siding was introduced in the late 1950s, and low-e windows came into the marketplace in the early 1980s. Now both are ubiquitous. According the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction, vinyl siding has been the most commonly used exterior cladding on new single family homes since 1994, which the National Association of Home Builders reports, was installed on more than a third of new and existing homes in 2014. Today, a combination of government incentives and local building codes have resulted in low-e windows capturing 80 percent of the U.S. residential market and 50 percent of the commercial market share.

The prismatic heat of sunlight reflected on curved glass has been noted on a large scale. In Las Vegas, the Vdara Hotel’s 57-story structure with a curved exterior threw a concentrated beam of heat, burning hotel guests arrayed around the swimming pool area below, causing one news outlet to dub it a “death ray.” In London, wags re-christened the so-called the Walkie-Talkie building, a $400 million skyscraper with a concave design, the Walkie-Scorchie building, after it was blamed for focusing rays of light powerful enough to melt cars on the street below.

But cases involving individual homes and low-e windows started popping up in 2007, according to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. Forensic engineer and Adjunct Professor of Alternative Energy at Western New England University. Curt Freedman first encountered the phenomenon when he was called to investigate a case of melted vinyl siding on a home in Hasting on the Hudson, New York. This spurred Freedman to start collecting exemplar windows and do his own testing to refine his understanding of the phenomenon.

It takes several factors aligning to create a scenario in which the reflected light from a low-e window can produce enough heat to melt vinyl or ignite brush. In the former case, there must be 15 to 30 feet of proximity to the window, Freedman says. The angle of the sun must be low enough to reflect the sunlight onto an adjacent building – which is why these incidents tend to happen in the colder months. Finally, the window itself must be concave – created, in part, by a difference in the barometric pressure between the interior of the glass panes and the outside air pressure. This effect is more pronounced in the cooler months, as the gases contract and pull the pane in.

According to a National Home Builders of America white paper: “Such a concavity is a normal response to pressure differences, does not affect the performance of the window, and does not constitute a defective window condition. However, the concavity may focus sunlight reflected from the window in a fashion similar to the effect seen when light passes through a magnifying glass. This focused light may land on adjacent building surfaces, and appear as a brilliant star-shaped spot. The concentrated heat generated by the focused reflected sunlight results in surface temperatures well above that encountered from direct sunlight, and has the capability of causing damage to exposed materials, especially those which are plastic based.”

“The barometric pressure may have some role but what I believe the more major role is temperature – the colder the temperature, the more the window is sucked in and it changes the curvature of the glass,” he says.

Some theorize that low-e windows featuring argon gas are more prone to this curvature, because over time, argon escapes from the void between the panes, but air molecules, which are bigger, can’t get in to replace the inert gas. But Freedman says this phenomenon also occurs in low-e windows with air between the panes.

Some of the recent cases Freedman has investigated include:

  • A report of fire damage in January 2015 on the north exterior wall of a home in Whitman, Mass. The fire department found smoke seeping into the second floor, and opened up the interior walls in two bedrooms looking for the source. The fire was extinguished, but firefighters found other hot spots that needed to be wet down. When investigators failed to find fault with the building’s electrical or heating system components, the state Fire Marshall determined that the mostly likely cause was the concentrated reflection of sunlight coming from an adjacent home’s second floor windows. The building’s homeowners told fire officials that it was the second time the vinyl siding on that side of the house had been melted and replaced.
  • In November 2016, a neighbor’s low-e window burned a four-foot square patch of mulch, in Waxhaw, North Carolina.
  • On January 28, 2017, the state Forest Service extinguished a fire at an Advance, North Carolina residence that destroyed an old dog house and burned a patch of ground covered in pine straw. Four days later, the department responded to another fire in the same area and determined that it was set by the reflection of sunlight off the neighbor’s second-story window. Fire investigators measured the temperature at the cross-shaped reflection at 341 ºF.
  • On January 6, 2018, low-e windows were blamed for burning through the wooden shingles of an adjacent house in Somerville, Mass. through to the framing underneath. It was the second incident in six years.

Besides general consternation, melted vinyl siding has resulted in at least one civil action. In 2016, an Oregon man sued Associated Materials of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the makers of Alside siding, for rejecting a warranty claim for melted vinyl siding, citing an unusual heat source as the root cause.

For Freedman’s part, he continues to assist fire investigators who suspect that a low-e window might be the ignition source in some fires. His goal is to educate fire departments to recognize the phenomenon.

“There is nothing in the fire investigation books about concentrated sunlight fire. No one’s really published on this topic,” he says. “The issue of reflected light off windows needs to be better understood, for example, what causes wood to burn from reflected sunlight? They need to recognize when these sunlight induced-fire events occur, and also distinguish legitimate cases of solar induced fires from arson.”

New Energy Efficient Windows Create Heat Damage

New energy efficient windows are designed to keep the heat out in the summer and the heat inside during the winter, but they appear to be having an undesirable effect — burning objects in their magnified path.

It was a hot summer day in 2012 when Colleen Daub first noticed something was very wrong with the vinyl siding on her Woodstock home.

“I was doing simple yard work, mowing the lawn, and I looked up at the siding and I noticed a little bubbling,” Daub recalls. At first, she thought it was water damage. “It looked real wavy. When you go to touch it was squishy.”

The vinyl siding on her home looked warped, saggy and melted. Daub had no clue what was causing the problem.

“I’m very frustrated because it’s an eyesore when you’re driving by the house,” she says.

Her dad, Pat Daub, found some clues with a quick internet search. Turns out the unlikely culprit were the energy efficient windows on the second floor of his neighbor’s house.

They’re called low-e or low emissivity windows, designed with a thin coating of metal or metal oxide. Low-e windows are required by some building codes and are used in an estimated 80 percent of new homes. But the popular windows act like a magnifying glass by reflecting concentrated beams of sunlight onto whatever is in its path — in this case, the Daub’s house.

“I had no clue it was this bad and this widespread,” Pat Taub said.

The Daubs are not alone. NBC 5 Investigates went on a tour of their neighborhood and saw home after home with the same kind of damage.

“Nobody’s doing anything about it,” Pat Daub complains.

So, whose problem is this to fix?

The Daubs say the home developer denied responsibility. As for the siding manufacturer, its warranty specifically excludes damage caused by reflections from windows. That language was added by siding makers industry-wide after the low-e problem came to light.

And the finger-pointing doesn’t stop there. The vinyl siding industry blames the window makers, saying “we know, and the window industry knows that the solution lies in finding a way for windows to reflect solar energy without concentrating it into a dangerous beam.” But the window industry disagrees, saying many factors come into play, most of them having to do with siding.

The problem isn’t going away anytime soon. Damage blamed on low-e windows has been reported across the country. And it’s more than just siding that’s melting.

In Los Angeles, intense beams focused off e-glass melted plastic and paneling on cars and garbage cans. Reflections from hotel windows burned guests on a Las Vegas pool deck. And the Consumer Product Safety Commission says beams from sunroom and skylight e-glass started fires on cedar shingles in at least 4 homes.

Back in Woodstock, the Daubs are still struggling for answers. They could use their homeowners insurance to cover replacement, but they’d pay the $1,000 deductible and risk higher premiums. Neither the window or siding industry offered any detailed plans for change, leaving homeowners are left caught in the middle. Most are simply told to plant shrubs or install awnings as a short-term fix to block the strong rays. A solution that doesn’t sit well with Colleen Daub.

“It’s frustrating. You don’t really get any answers. I just kind of felt like I was left hanging,” she said.

WINDOWS that CAUSE ‘FIRES’- Promoted by Green Energy Standards LOW-E ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOWS CAN CAUSE FIRES

W A R N I N G
 
 
WINDOWS that CAUSE ‘FIRES’- Promoted by Green Energy Standards
 
LOW-E ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOWS CAN CAUSE FIRES
 
 
CONSUMERS BEWARE 
 
The window industry has known that the Low-E Energy Efficient Windows have caused fires. 
 
The industry AND the corporate government agencies have known!
 
The Department of Energy promotes these windows.
 
Who would imagine that a green energy code window specification can cause FIRES?
 
 
 
Here’s What Happens:
 
 
Sunlight reflected from the metallic oxide coating on the glazed surface of these energy efficient Low-E Windows reflects 
heat that CAN cause ignition – FIRE.  This combustibility is dependent upon which side of the structure the windows are 
located during “direct” sunlight.
 
The metallic oxide coating is designed to keep the suns heat from entering the home, commercial buildings, etc.  
 
There are MANY reports from consumers, for YEARS, that have told of their experiences of these windows causing fires. 
 
Here are some instances, where windows have reflected heat and melted neighbors vinyl house siding, ignited dry brush 
and mulch, set wooden fences on FIRE and burned up parked cars where the reflected window BEAMS hit.
 
The reflected heat is magnified from the outside glass pane when the pane becomes concaved.
 
When the Argon Gas leaks out past the seal this creates low pressure within the window.  The absence of the gas between the double pane window allows the outside air pressure to bow the window inward creating a concave shape.
 
The concaved condition creates an intense focused heat effect from the sunlight which can cause ignition.
 
The reflected sunlight heat is beamed much like a magnifying glass and at the right distant point the beamed heat can cause ignition and FIRE.  
Focused heat creates the energy to ignite the exterior fuel.
 
Remember, these Low E windows are supported by the Department of Energy just like the LED Toxic Light Bulbs . . .
 
TO DATE – Approximately 80% of current window replacement and rebuilding of structure/homes have installed these Low E Energy Efficient Windows.
 
 
THERE IS NO MANUFACTURING RECALL . . . 
 
THESE WINDOWS REMAIN SPECIFIED IN THE NEW GREEN ENERGY CODES.
 
 
What we know is these fires caused by these windows is not widely known, and we have no way of estimating how many fires these windows have ALREADY caused.  
 
Now that you have an understanding of these window “defects” we must spread this far and wide – Because NOW You KNOW . . .
 
Knowing this will make you a better neighbor!
 
 
SOLUTION and IDEAS:
 
 
In order to comply with our “required” reduced energy consumption WE do NOT need to use these fire causing windows.  
 
Why would anyone, knowingly install these fire causing windows to reduce heat and energy costs?  WHY?
Engineering firms might be able to calculate and achieve the lower energy requirements by offsetting the Low E Windows 
with safe windows and other energy savings such as roof materials, wall thickness, etc. 
The window specification is dependent upon the amount of window area.
Ask about tempered glass on the exterior pane/outside pane which is rigid and less likely to bow.  
Again, windows are specified and dependent upon window size.  In California tempered windows are specified 
in Wildland areas, so we are told! 
 
Please consult with the window representative in your area.
 
Note – One solution we noted was to place screens on the outside windows to prevent the heat and magnifying effect.  
A possible problem would be that the screens will impede the view.  Should you sell your home a new owner might 
remove the screens NOT realizing the possible fire effects discussed above.  
We would suggest you DISCLOSE in your sellers disclosure statement what the screens over the windows are fore –
TO PREVENT POSSIBLE FIRE. .
 
 
WHY?
 
Again we must ask – Why would anyone, knowingly install these fire causing windows to reduce heat and energy costs?
   
WHY have PLANS, in all our communities, been adopted claiming that lowering consumption of energy will reduce climate change?  
 
These energy reducing plans have NOTHING to do with us altering the climate.  
 
Our government agencies actually have adopted plans, they say, will prevent our New Normal of Monster Weather Events. 
 
These Climate Action and Resilient Plans are worldwide plans to CONtrol all Land, Energy Use, WATER, Increase our costs 
to survive, control and decimate local economies  – 
 
and CREATE MASSIVE WORLDWIDE DISRUPTION UNLIKE EVER BEFORE EXPERIENCED that WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD AND DECENT. 
DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD AND DECENT . . .
 
 
 
WRAP UP:
 
 
Low E Energy Efficient Windows HAVE Caused Heat Reflections Creating Ignition and FIRE.
 
Many cities are and have been HIT with weather weapons (Climate Control) and the rebuilding what was destroyed is now in process across the country, and throughout the world.  
 
Cities will use code enforcement requiring all existing buildings be retrofitted to meet your cities agreement to “reduce” green house gas emissions (GHG).  
 
ALL existing buildings that do not comply will ultimately be subject to code violations, fines, penalties  
and potentially red-tagged to ELIMINATE occupancy – unless the green energy code requirements are met.   
YES!    
 
Our cities have approved PACE and HERO loan programs that Rockefeller has schemed as a LOAN financing tool for 
energy CODE upgrade retrofitting for OUR properties.  
So far, there have been a number of homes that have been foreclosed upon by the inability to pay these Rockefeller loans.  
These loans are collateralized against the property and supersede the first mortgage, if you have one. 
 
There is more to understand about the PACE and HERO loans, however, we have given you enough to be aware of 
and YOU need to read and understand the fine print.
 
 
 
NOW FOR THE BACK STORY
 
 
THIS IS HOW WE LEARNED ABOUT THESE WINDOW CONDITIONS . . .
 
A family that lost their home in the TUBBS Fire in Santa Rosa, California, 10/8/2017,  purchased a new home under construction and moved into their replacement home months after they lost their original home, and ALL their belongings, in the TUBBS Fire.  
 
Sometime after moving into their new home there was a Red Flag Fire Warning in Sonoma County in November of 2018 
 
Important to note what constitutes a Red Flag Fire Warning – low humidity, high heat and wind.
 
They had an uncomfortable feeling during the FIRE WARNING and did not leave their house that day.
 
A neighboring unoccupied house had caught fire!
 
They SMELLED SMOKE. 
 
Upon investigation, behind the unoccupied neighboring house, the mulch and rear yard wooden fence and supports of the 
wooden deck were on fire.  Immediately, they called the fire department and with the help of a nearby neighbor they 
were able to contain the fire with garden hoses until the fire department arrived.  The fire had advanced into the crawl space 
under the deck and fire was under the house.  The fire department pulled off the wood siding and put the fire out.  
 
THE FIRE WAS OUT – HOWEVER, NO ONE KNEW WHAT THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE WAS AT THE TIME.  
It was days later that the Low-E Windows started to create black burn spots on the newly replaced material in that same back yard.
 
This family almost LOST a second home to FIRE!
 
 
This WARNING Serves as a Caution to ALL!
 
 
 
___________________________________________________________________
 
Of interest below is a 2014 article out of London – 
 
___________________________________________________________________
 
WINDOWS that CAUSE – Car-melting London skyscraper to be permanently cooled down – National |Globalnews.ca
 

 

Car-melting London skyscraper to be permanently cooled down   5/14/2014

LONDON – A London skyscraper that drew ire for having a glare so strong it melted nearby cars and shops will get a permanent fix.

The offending tower – known as the Walkie-Talkie for its curved, bulging shape – is to have a sunshade attached to its south-facing facade to stop the concave surface from reflecting sunlight and beaming concentrated rays to a nearby street, developers said Thursday.

The 37-story building made headlines in September when a Jaguar owner who parked his car at its foot complained that the solar glare melted part of the vehicle. Local shopkeepers also said the beams – dubbed “death rays” by the British press – blistered paintwork and burnt a hole in a floor mat during the hottest parts of the day.

Watch below: London skyscraper heats up streets below enough to fry an egg

 
Developers Land Securities and Canary Wharf had put up a dark netted screen as a temporary measure. They now say they have received permission to erect a permanent sunshade of horizontal aluminum fins, which they say will solve the problem by absorbing and diffusing sunlight.

The sunshade will cover much of the Walkie-Talkie’s southern face, and will inevitably block the Thames views for the tower’s occupants “to a limited extent,” the developers said. But they added:

“The extra texture, detail and reduction in reflectivity will make the building a better neighbour.”

It wasn’t the first time that the skyscraper, designed by architect Rafael Vinoly and officially known as 20 Fenchurch Street, attracted controversy. Even before it was built, UNESCO, the United Nations heritage body, complained that tall buildings like it would negatively impact the historic Tower of London nearby.