Low-E

Technically called passive low – e coatings, they work by allowing a higher level of solar radiation to pass through them. Their insulation function operates by reflecting this heat back into the room. This helps to keep this heat, along with the heat generated by a homes’ heating system, within the home. This saves energy and keeps bills lower.

The low e coatings are applied by the flat glass manufacturer as part of their production process. The low e coated glass is usually positioned to the inner panes of glazing units and are sealed inside to protect them. There are two types of low-e coating:

Hard coat

This coating is applied to the glass as it comes out of the float production line and fuses to the hot glass. The term ‘hard coat’ is used as the coating is durable and in effect hardened onto the glass. This is sometimes referred to as a pyrolytic coating.

Soft coat

This coating is applied to cold glass by a ‘magnetron’ coating line. The float glass is passed through this special facility and the coating is applied to the surface. This coating is delicate and damages quite easily and thus the term ‘soft coat’ is used to describe this type of low e coating. The soft coating is ground off the surface of the glass in a 10mm perimeter band to the edge of the glass. This is called edge deletion. This enables a strong bond between the base glass and glazing sealant to occur, extending the glass units performance life.

Soft coat glass out performs hard coat glass in thermal insulation terms.

Regency glass only uses soft coat low – e. We offer a 1.2W/m2.K U-value low-e glass as standard and a superior 1.0W/m2.K glass as a higher performing low-e.