I did enjoy. Thanks Crank39. Very informative, in particular the explanations that backup my arguments that explain the causes of the failure.Heres a link for you try, it tries to back up your argument that dgu's can be repaired but uses a different method to yours http://www.crystalclearwindowworks.co.uk/process/thewhy.htm
But after reading that little lot be sure to try this next link...
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/crystal-clear-window-works-c192520.html Enjoy!
It is my understanding that in order to register a patent(s), --- and they seem to have a few don't they, --- you have to have much more than a daft idea. The idea has to have some basis, else it is rejected. (Can anybody qualify that?).
Anyway, regardless of the process, the franchisees carrying out the work might well be incompetent in some cases, and indeed it seems they are.
Changing a tyre or an exhaust are long and well tested procedures, and yet there are still places you can go, (well known tyre and exhaust service centers) who employ people with little more IQ than a postage stamp, with the result that exhausts fall off and wheels are incorrectly balanced. Sadly engineering, or any manual trade, especially the construction and allied trades, attracts too many of the type that couldn't have suceeded at school even if they tried. I'm sure you know the type. I'm sure you have met plenty. It is no surprise to me that a system, even if good is capable of being compromised by it's operator. Back to the weakest link again.
On the face of it, the Crystal system looks good, I will check it out. I might even get them round to quote one window and repair it, if it is cheap enough. If it works, I might even enquire about a franchise.
You are probably laughing . I'm not. I believe that there is a solution to failed units other than discarding them, and maybe this is one that works.
You're not wrong when you say that glass has become so cheap of late, that the perception is, that it is no longer worth even attempting repair of dgus. (I should add here, that the prices I have been quoted for replacing my own leaded dgus, are in part what led me to this debate in the first place. Though if you can supply as cheaply as you say above, that may no longer be a valid argument in my favour.)
Anyway, it's true also that we live in an age called the throw-away society. (In the developed world anyway, go east and south, you will get an different view point).
However, it's also true, that it is increasingly recognised that we can't go on like this. It doesn't matter if you are of the greenpeace save the whale, save the world persuasion, or think them all a bunch of CND left wing anarchist freaks. The fact is that we are rapidly approaching the point that we simply run out of raw materials, or the supply of them is so costly or difficult, as to make them effectively unusable. If you look at the price of oil, copper steel, etc etc. demand is so great now, that if it weren't for the current economic chaos, the prices of these would be far higher than now.
Yes recycling has a part to play, but even that uses energy and raw materials. Far cheaper in all repsects is to use less and to use what is used more effectively. That is the eventual direction we will all be forced to follow, and it has already started. Just one small example, is to properly insulate houses at build rather than later, in order to save on future energy costs.
I believe that replacing sealed dgus, is a doomed enterprise (at some future date), and that repairing failed dgus, is viable, but still only a step towards them being made "properly" in the first place, -- so that they don't fail in such a short time, relative to the potential of the materials used in their construction.