Pivot Show ID, Failure cause question

Question

Hello - My uncle installed 13 windows (I think about 20 years ago) that have nearly all failed at this point. I know he sourced the windows from a local NJ company, but I am not sure of the name and I think they are no longer around. The hardware appears to be Swisco from what I can tell though, so I am glad I found your site!

I believe the failures are all due to the Pivot Shoe, not the spiral balances (I only took apart one window, but all the bottom sashes crash down). I have taken one apart, please see the pictures. The top of the shoe is plastic where your new ones have a metal plate. Did mine fail due to the older plastic top design or where they installed wrong? The spiral part seems to be in the center slot of all the shoes, but in your videos it is always inserted into the rear 45 degree angled slot. Does that matter?

Either way I believe all I really need is (2) 15-047 shoes per window for the lower sash. Do you agree based on the pictures? The measurements seem to match the 15-047 as well.

My spiral balances look like 5/8" (they measure 9/16") blue tip, 29" long. The windows are between 57" and 60" tall.

Thanks!
Burt

Paul · Accepted Answer

Thanks for posting, Burt. I also think that the 15-047 appears to be the best match. Seeing as how this is 20 years old and down the shore, age and weather can cause the windows to fail. Many of your sashes that are falling might be because of the window balances. You could try charging your balances with a tool like our 75-006 and see if that works. We also have some videos that may help, which you can see on the right side of this page. If the balances won't charge, then you will need to replace them. Start with our S600-29 blue tip. spiral balance, I would suspect this is what you have.