On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:16:41 -0700 (PDT), "larry moe 'n curly"
wrote:



Jean wrote:

For clarification: In the current windows in my Florida sun room, the
transparent portion is made of clear thin vinyl (the material is kinda like
heavy duty freezer baggies).

For clarification??? Freezer bags are made of low density
polyethylene, not vinyl, which is far more permeable to moisture and
causes frost build-up inside. I haven't seen vinyl used as window
glazing except temporarily, such as for insulation (double glazing)
during the winter. All glazing I've seen was made of glass, acrylic
(Lucite), polycarbonate (Lexan), or polyester (translucent but not
transparent; for fiberglass reinforced panels, such as used for
skylights or solar heating collectors).

Polycarbonate isn't naturally sun resistant, and for car headlight
lenses it's coated with an anti-UV glazing because ordinary
polycarbonate will become translucent otherwise. Acrylic holds up
great to sunlight (notice car tail light lenses don't deteriorate,
unlike polycarbonate headlight lenses) but it will develop a yellow
tint. Polycarbonate is stronger and sometimes used for bulletproof
windows, but I don't know how scratch resistant it is, although
regular polycarbonate, like the kind used for DVDs and CDs, doesn't
polish nearly as well as acrylic does.

Normally, "vinyl windows" refers to windows made with vinyl frames,
and the vinyl is treated to make is highly UV resistant, but if
they're like vinyl gutters, you can't paint them any dark colors (dark
means anything but white or yellow, and even light blue is dark for
infrared purposes), or they may slightly melt or warp from sunlight in
hot weather.



Lots of commercial brown vinyl windows around here, as well as
wedgewood blue. No problems I've seen. It's not Florida, either, but
in the summer we get a lot of strong sunlight and 90+ F days.