“Pilkington Activ” glass needs little cleaning, reducing consumption
of detergent and water.
The active glass has a special nano-scale (extremely thin) coating of microcrystalline titanium oxide which reacts to daylight. The reaction breaks down dirt on the glass, and when the water hits the glass
the dirt slides off.
The chemical used — titanium dioxide is a fairly benign compound found in toothpaste and paint.
The glass is slightly more expensive that conventional glass, adding about
15-20% to the cost of installation. However, it also provides an approximate
20 percent reduction in ultraviolet light transmission over clear glass and equivalent energy efficiency.
- Dirt, glass, Nano-scale Activ coating
containing microcrystalline titanium dioxide - Sun shines on window.
The UV rays trigger a chemical reaction in Activ coating,
called a photocatalytic process, which breaks down dirt - When
water hits glass, a hydrophilic effect is created. Water spreads
evenly over the surface, instead of droplets, so runs off and
takes dirt with it
Hi Philip Lyons,
My house has 30 windows and all of them had been treated. I did not get the Pilkington glass. I had someone to installed it for me. The cost is far less and they are still working just fine. I had self clean windows for about 3 years now and it is going on the 4th year. I had seem the Pilkington glass with coating on this. I am not sure if they didn’t do the job right or not but it didnt work.
“However, it also provides an approximate 20 percent reduction in ultraviolet light transmission over clear glass and equivalent energy efficiency.”
I don’t get this. OK you might not want UV light coming into your house because of skin cancer etc, but what has that got to do with “equivalent energy efficiency”. Surely blocking out more radiation will reduce the solar heating of your house making it less efficient? (I am assuming here that UV radiation coming into your house would get absorbed and re-emitted as infra-red). Incidentally, some people like glass that lets in UV for vitamin purposes. The glass is a great idea because it cuts out the use of detergent, but when its blurb contains meaningless “science-babble” it damages its own credibility.
I use a similar stuff on my car windscreen called “Rainaway”. At speed the use for windscreen wipers is not needed (40mph+) as the rain blows off the window.
Can someone tell me if Pilkington ‘Activ’ self-cleaning glass actually works when installed?
Comments on Saint Gobain-‘Aquaclean’ would also be appreciated.