This is a Case Study looking at how Ecolux 70 Window insulation film is performing in a mid 80's Brick home.  The home belongs to Kevan and Dellis Hunt, The owners of The Insulation Warehouse.

On 28 August 2020 we installed Ecolux 70 Window Insulation Film in all the windows of our home in Wattledowns. 21 square meters in total.

THE HOUSE
Our home is a mid 80's Block basement, brick upstairs with a concrete tile roof.

All of the windows are original anodised aluminium joinery with single glazing.  A few of the weather seals are tired and the latches had all corroded.

As you would expect, the house has good insulation in the ceilings, original insulation in the walls and underfloor insulation in the garage area.

THE SITUATION

Our home has a very good heat pump in the lounge (North & West looking) and no heating in the bedrooms (East and South looking).

We get very very hot in the summer months inside during the day and especially in the bedrooms at night.

We are comfortable in the winter with our heat pump but the bedrooms are pretty cold.

We get a small amount of condensation on the windows but not excessive.  A positive pressure ventilation unit would be a good option to deal with condensation.

Ultimately, for our home, I was looking for an insulation solution, not a condensation or sound solution.

COST COMPARISON
Before installing the Ecolux 70 film I researched other options including acrylic retrifit double glazing and glass retrofit double glazing. Whilst the Acrylic company came and measured, they did not send a quote but I became genuinely interested in the retrofit double glazing as it meant I got genuine double glazing and all of my openable windows got upgraded with new hinges and latches and all the old rubber seals would be gone with new ones in the new system.

The retrofit double glazing was  $15800 for 21m2 in total.
The Ecolux 70 was coming in at $7600 for the same windows, both including installation so the Ecolux 70 was half the price.

When I really thought about it I decided that I could replace the window latches and deteriorating hinges which is almost complete now.  I also tidied up the old window seals that had shrunk and pulled away from the joinery.  All this cost around $500.

   One of many old corroded window latches             A new, shiny window latch installed (10min each for a handy man to install)

Ecolux 70 film is promoted as reducing radiant heat loss by 50% in the winter and reducing radiant heat gain from the sun in the summer by 50% so I decided it was the right product for my home and my budget.  The later certainly was a strong consideration.  I could not justify twice the price for double glazing considering the Ecolux 70 option was to delivery a similar level of insulation performance with a limited lifetime warranty.

WHATS DIFFERENT AFTER THE INSTALL

Well it was instant and Dellis and I were very happy!  Immediately (on the first night) we noticed a much more consistent temperature throughout the house.  With no heat pump running, the whole house felt warmer. This theme has continued with a warmer feeling home, not just a warmer feeling lounge and we have not used the heat pump at night very much at all.

We dont notice any real benefit on a cold morning as the retained warmth has had all night to dissipate.  It's also hard to measure the cost saving for power with the heat pump being more efficient with the Ecolux 70 reflecting the radiant heat back into the house but i'll keep working on that.

TEMPERATURE MONITORING

Im a bit of a weather hobbyist so I decided to get a bit scientific and monitor the temperature before and after the film was installed.  I have a weather station that lets me log internal and external temperature.  I captured 20 days of "before data", more would have been nice but it was enough to get a good sample. 

A part of my weather station used to capture before and after data

In the first 2 weeks post install, the "after data" is showing a 1.4 degree warmer inside temperature on like for like days with no heat pump running.  That might not sound like much but when it's moved your temperature from 17.6 degrees to 19 degrees, that's really noticeable.  I hope to be able to provide more data on this as we move into warmer weather.  Keep in mind that  additional benefit will be gained when the heat pump is needed as the heat generated will not escape through the windows as rapidly as it use to.

The Look is different - It's like putting on a really nice pair of sunglasses. The Ecolux 70 film has a subtle gold tint to it.  It really crisps up the view out of your window, almost clarifying it, and really lets your eyes relax.  We have a lot of glass across the back of our home, looking out onto the Wattledowns golf course so we have lost the harsh brightness but retained our view with a much more pleasant subtle golden hue.

The tint has also brought a subtle hue change to the colour of our interior walls during the day while the sun is shining in.  Obviously by night it's normal.  The change isn't bad or significant, but it's there.  It should also be noted that we have a pretty neutral wall colour which takes on other colours easily.

THE INSTALL PROCESS

Our installers took 1.5 days to install the Exolux 70 film.  It's a highly technical product and requires very careful handling throughout the install process.  The product was precut to the size of my windows and our installer Mike did some final trimming to complete the job.  The install is quiet and painless.  There are no power tools used, so no noise.  Room by room Mike laid the film out and worked his way through applying the product.

There is a lot of attention paid to the application.  A water based soapy spray is applied to the clean window to enable the film to be moved into the exact position required.  There Mike spends quite a bit of time squeegeeing out as much of the moisture as possible.  Some moisture can remain under the film and we had a couple of windows that this was visible on.  You can see this in the photo below. 

It should be noted that these spots are normal and they will dry out.  We noticed them on 2 windows and after 3 weeks, these water spots are now down to a very small shadow remaining.  I am told the drying time can vary, with some being longer, but it will dry out and is just a part of the install process for this product.

END RESULT

We are very happy and cant wait to se how much cooler our house is in the summer.

We are happy with the look of the Ecolux 70 film and we are very pleased that our home feels warmer throughout in the evening as it is cooling down outside.

If you are thinking about retrofit double glazing as an insulation solution for your home give serious thought to Ecolux 70 from The Insulation Warehouse.

You can read more about the product and it's benefits here

Thanks for taking the time to read this Blog.  I hope you found it informative.

Kind and "warm" regards

Kevan

• insulation
• 10 September