In order to ensure that a pressure-equalised insulated glass unit functions correctly, the validated method so far envisaged the installation of the SWISSPACER AIR in front of the seal using a secondary sealant. This method involved additional work steps and delayed cycle times in the production of the insulated glass units.
The Swiss company SWISSPACER has now presented a new method with which the AIR can be installed quickly and easily, above all as a retrofit. The Swiss manufacturer is thus responding to its customers’ wish to decouple the timing of the installation process from the manufacturing. The advantage: in this way, manufacturers of insulated glass units – and now also window makers – have the possibility to react flexibly to their customers’ requirements.
The now validated installation process involves drilling a hole through the hardened sealant and the rear of the spacer bar 
in the recommended position, about 200 mm from the top edge of the insulated glass unit, using the special SWISSPACER drill. Next, an O-ring is mounted on the AIR thread, which is then screwed in straight with a torque of 0.2 Nm. The only thing that needs checking is whether the sealing ring fully surrounds the SWISSPACER AIR and reliably seals the hole. Other steps, such as, for example, applying sealant, are no longer necessary.
“In terms of the service life simulation and underlying conditions, the procedure is equivalent to the originally tested and approved installation method,” said Matthias Bach, Technical Director at SWISSPACER. “However, we should point out that retrofitting changes the specification of the insulated glass unit. As installation of the AIR turns the insulated glass unit into an air-filled one, the Uw value changes and the CE mark is lost. The Ü mark, on the other hand, still applies,” continues Bach. It should also be noted that all four sides of the frame have to be filled with desiccant in order to be able to ensure the service life as before.