Triple pane windows
Hello, I live in Climate Zone 2B. Yesterday I purchased an order for 5 replacement windows from Pella. After doing extensive research on their website by looking at the U-Factor and SHGC on various different windows I finally settled on a combination.
Unfortunately after speaking with the sales rep I was told the specific combinations of glass/frame/gas I wanted was unavailable. I find this hard to believe because if you look at the ‘Pella Architectural Design Manual’ it lists every type of glass/glazing/gas/thickness combination along with product serial numbers.
Is Pella artificially limiting consumers choices in an attempt to make them upgrade to a more expensive line of window? Or did my sales rep screw up? Maybe his quoting software didn’t have the most recent catalog of products updated?
I’m going to call Pella today and speak with another representative about this but I was wondering if anyone here has run into a similar issue or someone knowledgeable with Pella might be able to shed some light.
http://media.pella.com/professional/adm/Fiberglass/Pella-Impervia_FixedFrame.pdf
My specific issue has to deal with the Pella Impervia Series, Triple Pane 6mm/6mm/6mm glass.
I wanted the SunDefense Glazing with Krypton Gas:
PEL-N-257-00368-00001
but the sales rep said I could only get Advanced Low-E with Argon Gas:
PEL-N-257-00345-00001
The difference in glazing/gas fill here takes me out of the Energy Star Rating and the U-Factor/SHGC is substantially different as well.
I’m only ever going to replace my windows once, and I currently have aluminum single pane windows. I want to take the opportunity to get the most energy efficient windows I can during this expensive upgrade process.
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Replies
Hi Kyle.
I can't help with the Pella products because I have never used them. But you should certainly call the company. I've had my own experiences and have heard numerous tales of lumberyard and showroom sale people steering people in the wrong direction with misinformation. I don't think it is malicious, just lack of knowledge unfortunately shared with authority.
Kyle, it's hard to say if they are being honest or not, but I would ask for more information, and would not hesitate to look at other windows. They are recommending glazing with 33% worse U-factor and 33% higher SHGC than you asked for.
I've got to wait a couple hours before they open and I will definitely call. My whole thing is, if it's not for sale, then why would it be on that specs sheet?
I’ve sometimes seen sales reps try to steer people away from things that they think are “too expensive” or “unnecessary”. I think the sales people think the prices will scare off customers. Unfortunately, a lot of top-end energy efficiency products fall into these categories.
See if you can call a manufacturer’s rep and not just a sales guy. Maybe have your sales guy call for you while you’re there, and have them make the call on speaker so that you can participate too.
Bill
I just got off the phone with a Pella customer service rep, someone affiliated directly with Pella. They told me SunDefense and Krypton gas is available for the triple pane Impervia series. I now need to get ahold of the office that wrote my order and have them make the change within 24 hours. I was told if they are unable to make the change in their system to have them reach out directly to Pella for a 'custom quote'. So i'm going to make that call here in about a half hour and hope everything goes smooth.
Sometimes it helps to have the manufacture rep reach out to your sales rep and tell them what they need to do.
I have an interesting vendor relationship like this for one vendor at work (Finisar, which has always been totally awesome to work with). I work with the manufacturers rep directly, but they can’t sell to me since they only sell through distributors. Their distributors aren’t very knowledgeable about the fancier products. What I do is work with the manufacturer’s rep to setup my order, they relay the order to the manufacturer, the manufacturer in turn tells the distributor I use what the order is and what to sell it to me for. I then pay the distributor and the manufacturer ships to me directly. It sounds convoluted, but actually works pretty well.
Bill
Definitely agree that the manufacturer should be more transparent about what you can actually get and I hope you get to the bottom of that.
However, have you run any modeling to see what your actual savings are with triple pane glass vs. double pane and ideal coatings for your area?
For my climate zone, lower SHGC numbers are better. I keep my house at 77F in the summertime when it's 115F outside, having a lower U-Factor to help mitigate the transfer of heat through conduction would help here too. I haven't ran any modeling but i'm replacing old aluminum single pane windows so I figure I will get the most efficient windows available to me. My choice was based on #1 SHGC, #2 U-Factor, #3 STC/OITC rating.