Skinny Triples: With the Latest Performance Requirements, Is the Time Now?
By Eric Thompson and John Ryba
Skinny triples—triple-paned insulating glass units (IGUs) that utilize an ultrathin center lite—exist in a weird space in the door and window market. In theory, they represent an effective way to hit new efficiency targets. In 2024, they’re on the table as a way for residential door and window manufacturers to meet recently minted Energy Star 7.0 figures.
In practice, skinny triples are in a much different place. Despite the performance advantages, they haven’t achieved any meaningful market penetration. However, some industry rumblings may indicate that attitudes are changing.
Beefing Up Interest
Recent talks with our door and window customers around the country have involved Energy Star 7.0. Earning that sticker is more arduous than it used to be. Hitting Energy Star 7.0 numbers today has predominantly involved using traditional triple-pane units or a complete redesign of an Energy Star 6.0 system that relied on double-pane. That second part requires deploying highly efficient new framing systems that can boost performance to where it needs to be. Neither of these options is exactly convenient for manufacturers.
Fabricating triples involves significantly more raw materials in the form of an extra pane of glass and additional spacer material needed to make up two gas-filled chambers. Meanwhile, the resulting systems are significantly heavier and deeper, requiring specialized heavy-duty balancer systems and raising some additional considerations when it comes to installation. Converting to a new vinyl system, meanwhile, is far from an overnight process. It’s time-consuming and in many cases requires new fabrication equipment as well as reeducating floor workers on how to handle and fabricate systems.
It’s against this backdrop that we were recently asked: What can you tell me about skinny triples?
One of the biggest advantages of skinny triples over their conventional triple-pane counterparts for window manufacturers is that they require no change in window framing; they are effectively a direct swap for double-paned glass.
Additionally, skinny triples are nearly the same weight as double-pane IGUs and don’t require any special considerations for packaging, handling, installation or building design. This is a big difference from conventional triples, which, until Energy Star 7.0, have largely lagged in the U.S. market for these reasons. They’re also a good option for both new construction and retrofit applications, as they can replace a double-paned IGU or sash in existing windows without the need to replace the window frame.
One of the biggest hurdles to adoption to date has been the manufacturing process. There’s no established way to integrate the fabrication of skinny triples into existing automated IG lines and dedicated equipment isn’t yet available, creating a chicken-or-egg kind of situation. Indeed, manual processing of skinny triple units is what most manufacturers will need to resort to. But given that your Energy Star 7.0 line doesn’t represent all of the units you’ll produce during a given shift, this might not be an insurmountable challenge. A dedicated manual application table or two might satisfy your needs.
Are we guaranteeing that the tide will turn for skinny triples in 2024? No, we’re not. But it’s a proven concept, and it’s one that’s worth a closer investigation by fabricators everywhere.
Eric Thompson is national account manager for Quanex Corp.
John Ryba is technical services manager for Quanex Corp.
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