Self-cleaning glass ?

[Timothy Murphy]

I read several years ago that Pilkingtons had developed
a new kind of glass, with some kind of activated surface
which kept the glass clean.
IIRC, the glass was intended for use in very tall buildings
where it is impractical to clean from the outside.

I wonder if anything came of this?

 

[Ziggur]

I read several years ago that Pilkingtons had developed
a new kind of glass, with some kind of activated surface
which kept the glass clean.
IIRC, the glass was intended for use in very tall buildings
where it is impractical to clean from the outside.

I wonder if anything came of this?

Try this:

http://www.pilkington.com/international+products/activ/default.htm

 

[N. Thornton]

I read several years ago that Pilkingtons had developed
a new kind of glass, with some kind of activated surface
which kept the glass clean.
IIRC, the glass was intended for use in very tall buildings
where it is impractical to clean from the outside.

I wonder if anything came of this?

I knew a window cleaner that saw a factory done in this, said every
time he went past it it was filthy. IIUC it speeds up oxidisation of
bird shit, so it has some clean-enhancingness, but is by no means
fully self cleaning.

 

[Timothy Murphy]

Try this:

http://www.pilkington.com/international+products/activ/default.htm

Thanks ... exactly what I was looking for.
It claims Ireland has been chosen as a testing ground for this glass.
Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about the cost
or where it can be obtained,
but I have written to them to ask.

I live in a 4-storey building (an old orphanage)
and it is more or less impossible to get at the higher windows
from outside - the only way to clean them
is by taking them out internally.

 

[Jethro]

Timothy Murphy <[email protected]> wrote in message

I knew a window cleaner that saw a factory done in this, said every
time he went past it it was filthy. IIUC it speeds up oxidisation of
bird shit, so it has some clean-enhancingness, but is by no means
fully self cleaning.

Mind you, he would, wouldn't he

 

[Broadback]

Timothy Murphy wrote:

Thanks ... exactly what I was looking for.
It claims Ireland has been chosen as a testing ground for this glass.
Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about the cost
or where it can be obtained,
but I have written to them to ask.

I live in a 4-storey building (an old orphanage)
and it is more or less impossible to get at the higher windows
from outside - the only way to clean them
is by taking them out internally.

As long ago as the early 1960s while in Germany all the windows in the
modern flats opened inwards, so cleaning was a doddle, surely that type
of window is available here?

 

[Mary Fisher]

I knew a window cleaner that saw a factory done in this, said every
time he went past it it was filthy. IIUC it speeds up oxidisation of
bird shit, so it has some clean-enhancingness, but is by no means
fully self cleaning.

But bird shit isn't the only muck on a window. Not on ours anyway.

Mary

 

[Malcolm Stewart]

Timothy Murphy wrote:

As long ago as the early 1960s while in Germany all the windows in the
modern flats opened inwards, so cleaning was a doddle, surely that type
of window is available here?

.... and in the RAF barracks I lived in from 1958-9 at Scharfoldendorf (south
of Hanover). These were triple glazed.

We had them in a building I worked in, in Milton Keynes and built in ~
1988-90.

 

[Ziggur]

Thanks ... exactly what I was looking for.
It claims Ireland has been chosen as a testing ground for this glass.
Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about the cost
or where it can be obtained,
but I have written to them to ask.

I live in a 4-storey building (an old orphanage)
and it is more or less impossible to get at the higher windows
from outside - the only way to clean them
is by taking them out internally.

Almost any glazing company could supply it.

The inventor was a company called Rytek. They produce a "Non-stick"
liquid coating which is used by several window companies in the
production of their glazed units. Rytek "Clearshield" was featured in a
BBC programme called "Tomorrow's World" when it won the Prince of Wales'
Award for Innovation several years ago.

I know that at least one major UK replacement window company supplies
windows with this product "as standard" on all of its windows. A large
and well respected firm in Belfast sells windows made by this UK
fabricator.

 

[Ziggur]

As long ago as the early 1960s while in Germany all the windows in the
modern flats opened inwards, so cleaning was a doddle, surely that type
of window is available here?

Yep. Very common. Readily available. Known as "Tilt & Turn".

 

[Timothy Murphy]

As long ago as the early 1960s while in Germany all the windows in the
modern flats opened inwards, so cleaning was a doddle, surely that type
of window is available here?

Mine are sash windows in a listed building.
I'd have to get planning permission to change them.

 

[N. Thornton]

Mind you, he would, wouldn't he

kind of. I knew him for real, not for business. I expect bias but not
bs. I did tease him about it occasionally but he seemed quite
convinced it was junk.

NT

 

[Jan Wysocki]

I read several years ago that Pilkingtons had developed
a new kind of glass, with some kind of activated surface
which kept the glass clean.
IIRC, the glass was intended for use in very tall buildings
where it is impractical to clean from the outside.

I wonder if anything came of this?

I thought they announced this only last year. As it happens I picked
up a couple of sheets of glass in my local glass merchants on
Saturday and noticed that they had a poster advertising this glass,
so I guess the answer is that our local glass merchants will have
it or can order it.

I'm still waiting for the ultra thin sheets of glass that were
heralded 10 or more years ago to finally materialise as a flexible
scratchproof surface for motorcycle visors, grrr!

 

[Jonathan G Campbell]

I read several years ago that Pilkingtons had developed [...]

Try this:

http://www.pilkington.com/international+products/activ/default.htm

Thanks ... exactly what I was looking for.
It claims Ireland has been chosen as a testing ground for this glass.
Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about the cost
or where it can be obtained,
but I have written to them to ask.

I know of someone here in Ireland that has had them fitted by the
Senator company.

I must enquire as to the effectiveness of the self-cleaning. Maybe
worth an experiment; now how could one simulate bird-droppings?

Best regards,

Jon C.

 

[Owain]

| Mine are sash windows in a listed building.
| I'd have to get planning permission to change them.

Wood box and sash windows are traditional in Scottish tenements (up to 10
storeys in parts of Edinburgh) and are cleanable from the inside. The top
sash is cleaned by lowering it and reaching over the top of the sash from
inside. The bottom sash is cleaned by removing one of the side beadings (on
my windows they are hinged to allow this) and swinging the bottom sash in
about halfway. There are brass slotted hinges on the box to hang the sash
on.

Do you have the whole of a four-storey former orphanage, or just a flat?
Either way, might be worth considering a window cleaning contractor every
quarter with a cherry picker to do the whole building.

Owain

 

[Chris J Dixon]

Mine are sash windows in a listed building.
I'd have to get planning permission to change them.

In my youth I was always a little perturbed to see women hanging
out of sash windows, sitting on the window ledge, and thus being
able to clean the outsides of the glass.

Chris

 

[Mary Fisher]

In my youth I was always a little perturbed to see women hanging
out of sash windows, sitting on the window ledge, and thus being
able to clean the outsides of the glass.

I was fascinated to see my mother and neighbours doing this and it was a
rite de passage when I was allowed to do it - I was grown up!

Only the other day I was yearning for it - you simply don't have the safety
feature of the drawn-down window with casements :-(

That's why God is left to clean our windows ...

Mary

 

[Malcolm Stewart]

snipped

That's why God is left to clean our windows ...

Mary

I have my windows cleaned about once /month to 6 weeks. A friend living
about a mile away and in a similar position (i.e. we're both in side roads
away from the high dust levels of main roads etc.) does not have her windows
cleaned. The downstairs windows are as clean as mine; the upper part of the
upstairs windows, protected to a degree from rain by the overhang of the
roof and guttering are quite dirty.

 

[N. Thornton]

Thanks ... exactly what I was looking for.
It claims Ireland has been chosen as a testing ground for this glass.
Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about the cost
or where it can be obtained,
but I have written to them to ask.

I live in a 4-storey building (an old orphanage)
and it is more or less impossible to get at the higher windows
from outside - the only way to clean them
is by taking them out internally.

try a fishtank cleaner - and attach the outside half to a atring so it
cant drop. Then with a bent coathanger you can move it from pane to
pane.

A fishtank cleaner is just 2 magnets, with cloth over each. Move the
interior one, the exterior one follows.

Another maybe would be a water and detergent jet from the ground.


NT