Safety Glass regs and random imploding of conservatory roof

[mattysupra]

Hi, can anyone help, please?
My conservatory roof glass imploded on its own today. Only the internal side of the glass smashed, the exterior is still intact. The conservatory is 3 years old and is fully air-conditioned maintaining its temp at a constant 22c. The conservatory and house are open plan with no doors to shut the conservatory off, hence it is always heated or cooled in the summer automatically by the heating/cooling system.
So the glass decided to implode today while no one was in there, but more worrying, I have glass stuck in my floors, table, furniture, etc. The glass did not shatter like normal safety glass. There is large particles of glass 4" x 4" and also jagged like a knife. The worse bits are more like splinters that are stuck in my kid's dolls etc.
What can cause this, and more so, whats the regs on the maximum size of particles that the glass can break up into?
Any help please as now worried about the rest of the roof as it's my kid's play room.

 

[crank39]

It's toughened for sure but by the sound of it it's of poor quality, seen it before with cheap Chinese units and even European

 

[mattysupra]

Not going to mention manufacturer at moment, but made in uk and its self cleaning and the most energy efficent glass they do with i think it was argon gas filled? reflects sunlight but retains heat inside?

 

[browney]

Look up Nickel Sulphide Inclusions often known as glass cancer or nickel stones this may of caused it to shatter.

 

[crank39]

Not going to mention manufacturer at moment, but made in uk and its self cleaning and the most energy efficent glass they do with i think it was argon gas filled? reflects sunlight but retains heat inside?

Its how its been toughened, if its shattered into long thin strips then its poor toughening.

Whats caused it to break is another matter, it happens, its happened to me - I've had a roof unit pop in my hands, I've had toughened units pop in the van overnight

 

[KenGMac]

Suggest you take a load of images,a and slow motion videos [pan very slowly over ALL the areas of damage]

Contact the Manufacturer not the supplier and contact FENSA ask the latter for a visit? or at least there advice??

This situation could grow arms and legs, consider contacting your Home insurer if you have Accidental Damage cover??? check before you call!!! [important]

Why the last? the damage has /will cost you money, and if all the glass has to be replaced will cost a load of ££???

Ken

 

[mattysupra]

thankyou, anyone no regs on max size the glass should break up into? i have bits 4"x 4" with very pointed edges. To the point that one bit has embedded itself through a IKEA cupboard.

 

[KenGMac]

Try this for a starter?

Suggest you dig into the British standards?

Hence my O/Post about getting good digital images???

BS 6262 refers to safety glass and its classification and need for marking in accordance with BS 6206 'Impact performance requirements for flat glass and safety plastics for use in buildings' and BS EN 12600 'Glass in building. ... Impact test method and classification for flat glass'

 

[crank39]

Don't throw away the glass, take photos of the abnormally broken pieces and supply these to the installer who will then pass them onto whoever they buy their units from, might not be the installers fault but they have an obligation to repair

 

[ronniecabers]

Unfortunately I can't see Fensa wanting to get involved as it's only a competent persons scheme...and being a conservatory may not even fall under Fensa. The GGF ( Glass and Glazing Federation ) may be a better bet .
Also if researching for bs6206 , it was replaced some years ago for En12150. I will say I have come across glass shattering like this before ...the cause , probably nickel sulphate inclusion ( as mentioned before ) , but this seems to be deemed acceptable ..or rather unprovable and thus I've never got a toughened glass supplier to admit it could be a cause. As goes the larger ' shards ' , again Seen this from glass supplied in the UK, but never really got to the bottom of why it breaks into such big pieces , normally I would expect toughened to break into pieces not much bigger than a pea/bean. The reason it is imbedded is the force of the ' explosion ' ...again have seen glass imbedded in all sorts of things ( including wooden door jambs!)

 

[crank39]

Ronnie do you remember the old 75mm Ali patio doors, don't make them now because you can't get 24mm units in them, from memory they were 16 or 18mm with swiggle strip spacers, when doing the emergency glazing lark some years back I always found those units break into long curved shards like 6 to 8 inches long but say only a quarter of the glass, the rest would break as you'd expect it to

 

[^woody^]

Never specify toughend for overhead glass, always laminated.

 

[foxhole]

A bird impact could break glass as could an item dropped on it or hitting it.Neighbours green house had a stone thru a side window, only found culprit looking out across back gardens and saw a boy using small stones for cricket practice.

 

[crank39]

Never specify toughend for overhead glass, always laminated.

In an ideal world yes but laminated is nearly twice as heavy, two bits of 6.4mm lam as opposed to two of 4mm, weight calcs and suficient load bearing conservatory roofs are a factor however I have seen inner leaf laminated in case of outer leaf failures, works well

 

[^woody^]

In an ideal world yes but laminated is nearly twice as heavy, two bits of 6.4mm lam as opposed to two of 4mm, weight calcs and suficient load bearing conservatory roofs are a factor however I have seen inner leaf laminated in case of outer leaf failures, works well

Yes there is the weight issue. I've not really looked at it for conservatory roofs, but for lantern frames these should be able to take the load

If need be though, the half and half compromise is well worth considering.