Window Question

[bigsandynorth1]

I woke up this morning and my bedroom Window was completly covered in ice. The window is shut tight and locked, no other windows in the house were like this? Anyone have any ideas?

[Roofer]

Seal is broken. How old are the windows?

[CFRay]

I've had Anderson replace many of the glass "sash" in my home under warranty. When the rep came out to determine which casements had bad seals he also advised me to remove the screens in the winter and open the blinds each day to let that ice/moisture evaporate. He said that a screen will restrict air flow to the glass. My bedroom windows were replaced and they still get some ice on the bottom edges on single digit and less days. I've only removed the screens from those bedroom windows. They face the east side of my house.

[bigsandynorth1]

Windows are 4 years old...Vinyl Lite The window is facing east, how do they replace the seal or is the window junk. Do you think it may still be covered under warranty?

[Roofer]

As Ray said with his windows, you can replace the window without removing the frame. Just depends on what kind of windows you have.

As for removing the screen, that is probably just on casements with the screen on the inside of the house, rather than a double hung or slider which have the screen outside.

[bryguy247]

It may be the window, but it most cases when we get such cold frigid weather like we are having it really cools the glass fast even on a sealed unit. Then when you have moisture (humidity) in the house touching the glass moisture or even ice will form. Usually you find this on the rooms with the higher humidity.

Tips: Watch the humidity level in those certain rooms. Try to have the blinds or curtains open a little to get some air circulating on them. The other thing that really spikes the humidity level in a home is when you have the heat on during the evening, and then you turn it down when you go to bed. The drop in temp really gets the humidity up there.

Hope that helps some.

[bigsandynorth1]

Yeah thanks guys for the help, I adjusted my air exchanger which controls the humidity level and this morning it wasn't nearly as bad.

Thanks for the help,

[Roofer]

Good. Better than what I thought it was. lol

After thinking about it more, I think bryguy was right.

It is so cold now that the glass R value of 4-10 isn't holding real well either.

[JAR JAR]

When it gets this cold outside, the humidity level at 70 deg mean temp should only be 20 %. We all know that if we keep our houses at 20% hum. we will be walking lizards .

Just keep your shades open and let the air circulate and also keep plants away from windows because they also produce moisture and run your bath fans and range hood when you bathe and cook.

Jar Jar

[eglleftcoast]

This is a major reason that each winter I place the 3M plastic film over all my windows. Not only does it keep the house warmer, it keeps the moisture off the windows. I also think it’s easier on the wood frames and reduces the moisture damage they would receive from the ice build up. I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer sitting inside the plastic and it is amazing to see the differences in temperature between the space inside the plastic, the outside, and the rest of the house. The other morning when is was -11, inside the plastic it said it was 44 degrees while the living space in the house was 68 degrees.

[goetler]

The only way to get around this is to lower your humidity below 7%. When you replace all of your windows you are making your house more air tight. With your old windows the moisture escaped around the old sashs and would frost up the outside storm window. Whenever it gets colder out you are going to have more moisture on your windows than normal. This can even happen in the summer when the air is on and it is very hot and humid outside. If you have any question about windows let me knoe as I had been in the window and siding buisness for 20 years and ca n answer a few question for ya.

John