Davey wrote:
On Thu, 22 May 2014 10:04:59 +0100
Dave Chapman wrote:

Hi all,

We purchased an add-on conservatory from one of the large UK
suppliers about four years ago and since then we have really enjoyed
all of the benefits of a warm bright place to sit and relax even when
the weather outside is far from ideal.

However, our enjoyment has not been without its downside since one
morning about 18 months ago when we went into the conservatory we
noticed that the inner glass of one of the many double-glazed panels
had shattered into 'a million' pieces for no obvious reason.

snip

I'd be very interested to hear the comments of anyone else in this
NG who have experienced similar spontaneous shattering of
double-glazed panels and how the suppliers of the faulty panels have
reacted.

ATB - Dave.



A few months ago, I was parking my car, with witnesses, and the rear
window, an openable panel in an estate car tailgate, spontaneously
shattered. There was nothing anybody could see that could have caused
it.
Insurance replaced it for me.


This is a well known issue, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_glass_breakage

I've had a car window do this after 10 years, the panel stayed together
though and the inclusion that initiated the breakage was still visible
(happened on a sudden frosty night).

Also, I've seen it happen to thick architectural glass panels in a high
profile building. Seem to be the luck of the draw - possibly a bad
batch of glass in this case.

Chris K