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I've got a restaurant / has a lot of widows / getting a large amount of heat...
- Thread starter Donnie
- Start date
The best option, and it looks good, is to put up awnings outside the building over the windows.
If you use shades inside the restaurant the sun energy (infrared) still comes thru the windows ans strikes the shades and the infrared converts to heat energy and goes up to your ceiling between the inside of the glass and your outside shade surface. So the shade blocks the light, but the same amount of heat is still inside your building.
Windows let in a lot of heat in the summer as you know. In midday sun , every square foot of window can let in over 1000 BTU's of heat. A cooling capacity of a ton of air conditioning is only 12,000 BTU's an hour. So if you have a mega energy user air conditioner of 10 tons that cools (removes heat) of 120,000 BTU's an hour, it could be rendered useless by as little as 120 square feet of windows !!
My point is it is very important to block direct sunlight from entering your building during the summer. Large awnings, designed properly to take in account the angle of the summer sun versus the winter sun, can cut down enormously on your air conditioning bill. Plus they give weather protection to your building and customers and they look pretty too. In the winter, with the sun low in the sky, they let light and infrared in (passive solar) so you get free heat from the sun. It's a total win win.
No, I'm not an awning salesman, but yes I'm totally convinced of their benefits
By putting an awning outside, it looks good to the customer, the customer can still look outside unencumbered in view. From an energy standpoint, the infrared energy of the sun strikes the awning and gets converted to heat energy but since the awning is outside, all the energy is radiated outside instead of inside.
I think this is what you are saying when you say "tent". But by way far, the outside tent or awning is the best option.
Venetian style Shades are second best option, because you can open them slightly and redirect light during the day or pull them up all the way if it is cloudy out and you need the light.
3M film would be last choice. It filters out a lot of light, but also filters out too much light when it is cloudy out ,and to me, looks kind of cheesy and unattractive non homey feeling. If you feel the window surface when it is hot out, you will feel a lot of heat since it converts the infrared of the sun into heat right at the window surface. So even though a lot of that heat reradiates outside it also thru conduction and convection comes thru to the inside.
Only the awning keeps it all outside without adversely effecting view.
If you use shades inside the restaurant the sun energy (infrared) still comes thru the windows ans strikes the shades and the infrared converts to heat energy and goes up to your ceiling between the inside of the glass and your outside shade surface. So the shade blocks the light, but the same amount of heat is still inside your building.
Windows let in a lot of heat in the summer as you know. In midday sun , every square foot of window can let in over 1000 BTU's of heat. A cooling capacity of a ton of air conditioning is only 12,000 BTU's an hour. So if you have a mega energy user air conditioner of 10 tons that cools (removes heat) of 120,000 BTU's an hour, it could be rendered useless by as little as 120 square feet of windows !!
My point is it is very important to block direct sunlight from entering your building during the summer. Large awnings, designed properly to take in account the angle of the summer sun versus the winter sun, can cut down enormously on your air conditioning bill. Plus they give weather protection to your building and customers and they look pretty too. In the winter, with the sun low in the sky, they let light and infrared in (passive solar) so you get free heat from the sun. It's a total win win.
No, I'm not an awning salesman, but yes I'm totally convinced of their benefits
By putting an awning outside, it looks good to the customer, the customer can still look outside unencumbered in view. From an energy standpoint, the infrared energy of the sun strikes the awning and gets converted to heat energy but since the awning is outside, all the energy is radiated outside instead of inside.
I think this is what you are saying when you say "tent". But by way far, the outside tent or awning is the best option.
Venetian style Shades are second best option, because you can open them slightly and redirect light during the day or pull them up all the way if it is cloudy out and you need the light.
3M film would be last choice. It filters out a lot of light, but also filters out too much light when it is cloudy out ,and to me, looks kind of cheesy and unattractive non homey feeling. If you feel the window surface when it is hot out, you will feel a lot of heat since it converts the infrared of the sun into heat right at the window surface. So even though a lot of that heat reradiates outside it also thru conduction and convection comes thru to the inside.
Only the awning keeps it all outside without adversely effecting view.
Find out the R factor, or RSI factor for each product. The higher the value, the better. Not sure what you mean by tent, but for shade, you can look up the amount of sunlight in terms of watts per square metre for your latitude.
For cost efficiency, divide the total installed quote plus energy savings by the R value.
For an informal thermal analysis, try sweet talking your local fire department into coming by your establishment with a thermal camera at dusk, and see if they can pinpoint any leaks.
Also, try setting up an air-lock or foyer / vestibule with double doors.
For cost efficiency, divide the total installed quote plus energy savings by the R value.
For an informal thermal analysis, try sweet talking your local fire department into coming by your establishment with a thermal camera at dusk, and see if they can pinpoint any leaks.
Also, try setting up an air-lock or foyer / vestibule with double doors.