Internal pane spontaneously shattered.

[JamesAsus]

My conservatory window internal pane just spontaneously shattered yesterday, it seemed to have smashed from the top left area as though something has hit it but nothing had.

The window are probably 10 year old plus I think. I'm a bit concerned because this happened about 10 days after giving my conservatory a jet wash, I didn't force any water near the window seals but still concerned perhaps water has got in somewhere and that's caused the spontaneous breakage?

As if that's the case I'm on alert for the remaining 15 windows to randomly break.

The window had white blinds that were closed covering it at the time of the breakage, could they have reflected the heat back and caused the breakage? The window is a static panel, there was a window open next to it letting fresh air in, it was a hot day and conservatory is south facing.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

It's not so uncommon, typically the internal pane when cool temperatures follow hot eg https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/double-glazing-exploded.115560/#post-785555 Have a search of the forum using key words like glass shattered or explode or exploded etc.

 

[JamesAsus]

It's not so uncommon, typically the internal pane when cool temperatures follow hot eg https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/double-glazing-exploded.115560/#post-785555 Have a search of the forum using key words like glass shattered or explode or exploded etc.

That's the thing though, it was mid day and just hot there was no cool temperatures to speak of?

 

[foxhole]

Heat will distort the frame , which can then cause it to twist exerting most pressure at corners .

 

[crank39]

Very likely in fact I'll go as far and guarantee it was a nickel sulphide inclusion

 

[JamesAsus]

Very likely in fact I'll go as far and guarantee it was a nickel sulphide inclusion

The glass is safety glass, not sure if it's tempered but it broke into thousands of non-sharp pieces.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yes it's tempered or more commonly called toughened.

 

[crank39]

Toughened safety glass, generally found in areas where the glass is below 800mm from the floor or within 300mm of a door but can be fitted anywhere, glass breaking on its own its quite common and especially this time of year, I've already seen it 3 times in the last 2 months, unfortunately toughened glass won't be cheap if your paying someone to do it

 

[JamesAsus]

Toughened safety glass, generally found in areas where the glass is below 800mm from the floor or within 300mm of a door but can be fitted anywhere, glass breaking on its own its quite common and especially this time of year, I've already seen it 3 times in the last 2 months, unfortunately toughened glass won't be cheap if your paying someone to do it

Could I just fit it with an infill polycarbonate panel? Would that be as secure as double glazing?

 

[flameport]

Could I just fit it with an infill polycarbonate panel?

You could.

It will look entirely different and will be scratched to ruination in 6 months.
As an added bonus, some types also discolour and go cloudy.

 

[ronniecabers]

I'm with Crank on this... Pretty much guarantee its Nickel Sulphide Inclusion, much more common than people will admit. I've even had pieces go in my hands in our workshops before, most disconcerting!.
As for the polycarbonate panel , you could but it would look awful

 

[opps]

As an aside, I only recently noticed that a window at the back of my home (top fan light) has a massive crack. I haven't told "her" about it, the crack is on the outside, (alli frame). I sleep in the spare bedroom and really can't be arsed to tell her about it.

 

[JamesAsus]

I forgot to mention, after the breakage there was a really strong paint smell in the room for a good 24 hours afterwards?

 

[ronniecabers]

That'll literally be the smell from within the sealed unit. Never quite pinned down what causes the smell but smelt it a few times when splitting down failed decorative units for repair

 

[Tigercubrider]

I had a front window do that once.
No idea if it was spontaneous, a random stone flicked by a car (open plan 20 feet from the road) or a kid with an air pistol

At work we (unauthorised) painted the glass on the inside of upvc windows black to black out the room.
The sunlight eventually caused the windows to crack.