My Passive House Consultant has asked me to choose some windows so that she can plug them into the PHPP.
According to the PHIUS listing of certified products there are no qualifying operable windows for the South side of my house to be in Central Ohio (5A)
But I must persevere.
Having just returned from the PHIUS conference in Chicago, I saw lots of windows, including many European, North American and a hybrid manufacturer.
I am concerned about the short warranties offered by the European manufacturers – just 5 years. Domestic IGU’s with stainless steel spacers are offering a 20 year warranty. How concerned should I be with these newer, better insulating spacers? I believe that these may be the weak point in European windows, because the frames and hardware are so overbuilt that they are unlikely to lead to a problem in the future. Getting replacement IGU’s for a European would be very expensive. It wouldn’t take more than 1 or two failures to negate the energy savings achieved by the slightly better insulating spacers.
So, how have the high tech new spacers been working out?

Steve Young