Are my DG units blown?

[Dotti]

Hya, we had our old aluminium windows replaced with new uPVC ones in 2019 and about 2 years ago some marks appeared between the glass panes (see pictures). It appears that the seals inside are breaking down and pooling at the bottom. This is happening in most of the new windows and it has been attributed to extensive heat exposure. Well living in the UK and especially in Wales we have not had excessive sunshine. Over this winter where it has been over wet with little sunshine we find this difficult to understand as the pooling in some windows has increased.

The contractor that fitted them is having extensive conversations with the suppliers but they say they have never experienced this before.

The bungalow is extremely cold and on occasion we have heard conversations from our neighbours and also the smell of cigarette smoke . The road noise has not been reduced at all and the bass from passing cars is also very loud.

If it is of any consequence the window frames are light oak coloured uPVC and the sealant is dark brown which is shown in the pictures. Could this have an effect as we are thinking that the constitution of the sealant is faulty / not fit for purpose.

 

[Ollyfp]

This can happen if due care isn't taken during installation. The seal around the glass unit can be easily damaged. It's possible that it's a manufacturing issue, but it's more likely to be due to poor handling.
The glass units shouldn't be horrendously expensive to replace.
Good luck!

 

[foxhole]

Looks like manufacturers fault , difficult to cause that damage at install.

 

[crank39]

@ronniecabers

 

[ronniecabers]

My first thought is the secondary sealant is incorrectly applied. Second thought would be the use of a high modulus silicone when fitted ( probably holding the packers in place ) and that is ' melting ' the sealed unit sealant . Beads need to be removed to establish if the damage lines up with packers or external damage to the sealed unit. If there are no signs if external ' interference ' it will be a manufacturing issue.
Without removing the beading and examining the outer perimeter of the sealed unit it is all guess work as to whether it's an external factor causing the damage

 

[robinbanks]

Can you take a beading off and show us a picture of the glass, installed in the frame, at the locations where the sealant is smeared down the inside of the panel?

Typical bead removal example:

Just remove the top bead for now, it should be enough to take a few photos from different angles of what is inside the frame at those "runny" locations

The bungalow is extremely cold and on occasion we have heard conversations from our neighbours and also the smell of cigarette smoke .

It indicates you have draughts somewhere but that might not necessarily be the fault of the windows at all. A thermal imaging camera on a cool night exercise would help reveal places where your house is poorly insulated or subject to draughts

The road noise has not been reduced at all and the bass from passing cars is also very loud

Could be a poorly fitting opener letting the higher frequency noise through (the waterfall sounding white noise from passing tyres), but the bass will get through no matter what..

 

[ronniecabers]

Honestly not down to the end user here and run risks of being accused of invalidating the warranty. Regardless of the cause it should by the Installers warranty... whether it's an installer error or manufacturing error. If OP removes those beads they could be accused of causing it

 

[ronniecabers]

This can happen if due care isn't taken during installation. The seal around the glass unit can be easily damaged. It's possible that it's a manufacturing issue, but it's more likely to be due to poor handling.
The glass units shouldn't be horrendously expensive to replace.
Good luck!

Poor handling will not have caused this. Poor installation or Poor manufactuing