Blinds Between the Glass- Glass deflection & adverse environmental conditions 

January 2, 2018

With the seasons changing, customers can encounter severe weather changes. It’s not unheard of to go from a 70° day to a 25° night in the Midwest with barometric changes, along with wind or snow. When this happens, a window or glass door is drastically affected by the temperature change.

When things cool rapidly they shrink. In the case of a dual pane window, this shrinkage causes what is called negative deflection. The airspace of a blind between glass in its normal equalized state is 3/4 of an inch. However, when you get negative deflection, that space can shrink down to as little as a half an inch.

When negative deflection occurs it causes a restricted air space creating a pinch point, and the blind is not able to freely move up and down. If you try to force the blind through the pinch point, most commonly the magnet operator gets disconnected. It is then necessary to reconnect the Magnet Operator.

To minimize this condition, a capillary tube is installed in every dual pane window with blinds. The purpose of the capillary tube is to allow the unit to equalize the pressure based on environmental conditions. The capillary tube is very small and it normally takes 24 to 48 hours for the window to equalize, especially when there’s a rapid temperature change. The best temporary solution is to operate the blind in only the tilt mode until the window equalizes. The good news is once the window has stabilized and returns to its normal or equalized position, the blind should be able to travel freely up-and-down and operate as intended.

To learn more, visit Intigral’s YouTube page or contact your Intigral Key Account Manager.