Glass Treatments Can Cause a Filming Effect

OK.  Which glass treatment do you prefer to use to create an "Easy Clean" glass surface?  There have been probably a hundred different products brought to market over the last forty years!  So we have had lots of time to treat lots of glass. Yet they can all be divided into two different categories. Hydrophobic (water hating), and hydrophylic (water loving).   Hydrophobic surfaces which cause water to bead up are great if you intend on cleaning with a microfiber cloth by hand or with a pad on a pole.  Just wet with an applicator then wipe dry.  If you use a solution that is not based on any detergents, you will get a crystal clear result.  But.  If you intend on cleaning with a water fed pole then your answer lies in a hydrophylic coating or glass treatment.  When such a water loving treatment is applied to the outside of a window the rinse water from a water fed pole will tend to sheet out and then come together again running off the glass completely.  Leaving very few drops of water behind.  Which could leave spots depending on the quality of your rinse water.  So the less drops the less spotting. 

There is absolutely a market for both of these two different treatments.  Which are also called nano coats.  They are usually only a few molecules deep.  However they are all subject to a very interesting effect that I have yet to see addressed in any article.  Which effect can be seen on either side of a window.  If you are applying a hydrophobe to the outside simply know that in the summer time the outside might develop a film.  That is if the building has good central air conditioning.  This film that I mention is a condensation of microscopic airborne particulates and or gaseous fumes.  It always develops on the warmer side. Any type of thin film on glass enhances this effect.  It is the reason why the inside of restaurant and garage windows always become more filmy in the cold months when you use a detergent based cleaning solution.  This effect is also true if you were to apply a hydrophylic (water loving) coating to the inside. In the colder months especially such a glass treatment will cause a film to develop in a matter of days.  Now this is not so much of a problem if the building has double paned insulating glass units. Because the inside lite will not be as cold.  But if it has only single paned windows look out.  Because this film can develop in a matter of only a single week.  Of course it can be removed every time you clean the windows.  But if the customer notices it as a "new thing", then you might be asked to "fix" the "problem".  On the bright side mirrors are almost always exclusive to this effect.  They are fixed to the wall with a one quarter inch air space behind them for circulation.  As a result the glass on both sides is identical to the ambient temperature of the room.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.
henrygroverjr@gmail.com

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