Jeld Wen w4500 vs Sunrise Windows
It's fascinating and more than a little daunting to try to be a smart shopper when it comes to windows. I stumbled onto your website, and it has just the kind of information I'm trying to find.
I'll follow up on the Sunrise windows--not a brand I've come across before. Just to make sure I'm comparing things correctly, I was looking up the performance figures for the Jeld-Wen w2500 ( these are the aluminum clad, pine interior, double hung) on the Menards site and found the following:
U-value: 0.29 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: 0.29 Visible Light VT Rating: 0.56 Air Leakage (AL) Rating: 0.1
Also on the Menards site, I found these stats for the Jeld-Wen w4500:
U-value: 0.3 Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: 0.47 Visible Light VT Rating: 0.57 Air Leakage (AL) Rating: 0.3
From your site, you list the Sunrise models:
Sunrise Essentials: .30 U-factor, .33 SHGC, .50 VT, .10 AI
Standard Sunrise: .28 U-factor, .48 SHGC, .59 VT., .09 AI
Sunrise Verde: .28 U-factor, .21 SHGC., .05 AI
Sunrise Vanguard: .26 U-factor, .24 SHGC, .44 VT, .03 AI
Sunrise Restorations: .22 U-factor, 0.19 SHGC, .44 VT, .03 AI
If I'm reading these right, it looks like the w2500 stats are closest to the Essentials or Standard Sunrise, though the SHGC on the Jeld-Wen is better than the Standard. I'm having a hard time understanding why the Jeld-Wen w4500 AL rating would be as bad as 0.3, and overall it's worse than the w2500. I'll have to check that elsewhere.
David - Homeowner - October 15, 2016
Website Editor's Answer
David, I'm curious about that w4500 numbers as well. One thing to note, numbers can be pulled using all sorts of glass and spacer options -- so numbers, although a good way to judge a window's performance, can be a bit misleading, depending on where they come from.
Going beyond the numbers, the Sunrise is built better than the Jeld Wen and so 10 years down the road, those numbers will have widened quite a lot based on the strength and construction of the window. Go with the Sunrise Standard or better and you will be getting an excellent window.
Editor Jim R. - October 17, 2016