Super Spacer: Super Performance

Glass & Mirror Craft’s Super Spacer® IG units are a major component of the industry’s best-performing windows. Our exclusive use of the Super Spacer technology is the major reason.

Super Spacer was the first – and is still the best – all-foam, no-metal warm-edge spacer system. It offers a true dual seal:

• High-performance acrylic adhesive structural seal
• Moisture vapor butyl seal

The dual seal helps Super Spacer windows outperform single-seal units in durability tests: up to five times longer.

Super Spacer is a true dual seal, warm-edge spacer system that uses a high-performance acrylic adhesive for its structural seal, backed by a moisture vapor seal. This is why Super Spacer units last five times longer in durability tests than single-seal units.

Thermal Performance

Windows lose and gain heat by conduction, convection, radiation and air leakage. IG units are designed to minimize convection, radiation and leakage. But units with metal seal components have an inherent weakness: metals – especially the aluminum used in most units – are great conductors and conduct heat through the window.

It’s easy to see by comparing the temperature at the edge of the window: the cold edges of windows with metal-based spacing systems are a sign of heat loss through conductivity.

The all-foam construction of Super Spacer is non-conductive, cutting off the last channel for heat loss. This gives windows made with Super Spacer some of the best thermal performance ratings in the industry.

Durability

There is no escaping the biggest enemies of window durability: temperature fluctuation and ultraviolet light. Super Spacer foam is formulated with a silicone elastomer – unmatched in its thermal stability and ability to withstand UV light. The foam’s high elasticity allows it to accommodate expansion and contraction. Yet its high-memory formula means it returns to its original shape – and a perfect, crack-free seal.

Super Spacer windows are the outstanding performers in the industry’s toughest durability test. In the P1 Chamber, windows are continually exposed to temperatures of 140 degrees F, 95- to 100-percent humidity and high levels of UV radiation. One week in the chamber is considered the equivalent to one year in the field. Super Spacer units function perfectly for more than 70 weeks – three times as long as the next-best-performing competing system.

Mold Prevention

The non-conductive nature of Super Spacer means it also protects against a threat that’s grown as homes have become more airtight: mold. Window condensation is a frequent contributor to molds which have been linked to increased rates of respiratory infections, allergies and asthma.

Sound Absorption

Take a metal ruler and smack it on a table. Now do the same with a length of  foam weatherstripping. Notice any difference? Metal is not only a great conductor of heat; it also conducts sound extremely well. Closed-cell foam, on the other hand, is second only to open-cell foam in its ability to absorb sound. Which is why windows with Super Spacer technology not only keep out the elements, they keep out of the noise.

Argon & Krypton Gas Retention

In most IG units, argon and krypton are the inert gases that provides the insulating layer between sheets of glass. And the window only insulates as long as that argon stays there. The resiliency of the Super Spacer seal gives it the industry’s most consistent seal and one of the highest argon retention rates.

Argon Retention - NRC Study (Elmahdy/Yusuf) Percent Argon Gas Loss after Weather Cycling

ENERGY STAR^®

The manufacturer of the Super Spacer sealer, Edgetech, is an ENERGY STAR partner that meets or exceeds worldwide standards for quality, energy efficiency and durability.