What to Do if the Inside of Your Cincinnati Windows Fog Up

Have you started to notice your Cincinnati windows getting foggy lately?

We are not talking about the moisture that collects on the interior of the window when the house is too humid. This type of fog you can just wipe up and clean when you need to.

The fog we are talking about is the moisture that collects between the glass panes of your window, the stuff that you can’t get to for a cleanup.

Where Does This Fog Come From?

The fog is created from a process called solar pumping.

Solar pumping is when the sun heats up the space in between the panes of glass in your windows. This heat causes the air to expand and leave that area through the windows semi-permeable seal. When the heat goes away as the sun sets that space cools back down, and air gets drawn back in this space through that same semi-permeable seal.

The problem is that when the air comes back in it carries with it small molecules of water, and these molecules are what creates the fog.

My Windows Have Never Fogged Up Before

Windows are not supposed to fog up, that’s why your Cincinnati windows have never fogged up before now.

When a window is made, there is a material that is placed in the space between the panes of glass called desiccant. This material soaks up all of these water molecules that get pulled back in the window when the space between the panes of glass cools down. When the desiccant has soaked up all the water molecules that it can, it stops working and that’s when you start seeing a fog form inside your windows.

What Do You Do When This Happens

When the desiccant is full and your windows are starting to fog up, it is time for new Cincinnati replacement windows.

The old desiccant cannot be replaced with new desiccant, so it will just keep fogging up because there is no place for those water molecules to go. There are some companies that claim that they can fix this problem by drilling small holes in your windows to give the water molecules a place to escape.  But the holes may not work, and you are possibly damaging the energy-efficiency of the window by putting holes in the glass.

Besides, if the desiccant of your window is full, then your window has probably been around for a while and it’s time for new Cincinnati windows anyway.