Low-E coating detector recommendations?

caesarthechimp

Any recommendations on these? The Merlin laser looks OK and quite cheap, but are there any others that can detect "soft coat" V "hard coat" or any of the other categories of low-E glass from the Deap drop-down menu?

http://www.merlinlazer.com/Low-E-Coating-Detector-NEW

Calahonda52

All find and dandy but how do you know it is doing the job as required.
Most of this gear requires some for of calibration/certification, unlike the ladies bringing a stud detector to the pub.

fatty pang

caesarthechimp wrote: »

Any recommendations on these? The Merlin laser looks OK and quite cheap, but are there any others that can detect "soft coat" V "hard coat"

Nothing that I’m aware of. I have that Merlin yoke and also their toughened glass detector and thickness gauge. All first class equipment.

fatty pang

Calahonda52 wrote: »

All find and dandy but how do you know it is doing the job as required.

The Merlin gear is 'plug n'play'. Industry standard.

caesarthechimp

fatty pang wrote: »

The Merlin gear is 'plug n'play'. Industry standard.

Yes, but I think the other poster is thinking about what would happen in the event of an audit. How do you prove that your equipment is certified and working. Or will you be asked?

I suppose to a certain extent it is being tested/monitored all the time by the user. Older windows will show up as "not Low-E" and newer ones as "low-E".
If all windows were giving the same result, you would know the instrument was broken. But will the auditor accept this logic?

fatty pang

This sort of equipment isn’t subject to certification or calibration. It either works (lights up or beeps) or doesn’t work (doesn’t light up or beep). If anybody asks for certified or calibrated meters simply ask them what equipment they advise using to meet their requirement - that will be the end of that conversation.

When dealing with SEI, as was, when the BER was introduced I quickly came to the realisation that ‘logic’ wasn’t their strongest suite when it came to what data they would accept for windows.

caesarthechimp

Bought the Merlin gadget above and very easy to use. Press the button and either a red or a green LED lights up, which does actually show up nicely in a photo.
There is no CE mark, but I don't think it needs one. As expected, it is constantly tested in use, ie the newer windows show up green, older ones red.
I'm finding this useful for some of the post 2010 windows that have a black coloured "warm" spacer bar. Its very hard to get a date off these, so even though you would know they are post 2004, its hard to prove.

Also got the Merlin laser gadget to measure air gap in the window. Easy enough to use and is quite small to carry. The spec sheet for this has a CE mark as per the SEAI requirement for these gadgets, as mentioned in their FAQ on Table 6a windows.

fatty pang

CE marking is only required if there is a hEN (harmonised Standard, which there is for laser measuring devices). I’m not aware of a Standard for coating detectors never mind a harmonised one.
After that previous exchange I spoke to a mate in the US who mentioned these –
https://www.edtm.com/index.php/glass-inspection-tools/low-e-coating-detectors/product/34-solar-gain-low-e-coating-detector

If you have a spare $1500 (plus import duty) you could treat yourself to one of these.

caesarthechimp

fatty pang wrote: »

CE marking is only required if there is a hEN (harmonised Standard, which there is for laser measuring devices). I’m not aware of a Standard for coating detectors never mind a harmonised one.

That makes sense alright.

The more advanced versions can differentiate between hard coat and soft coat, but its hard to justify the price jump for that extra benefit.