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Paul from SWISCO responded:
October 31, 2016
Looks like you have fairly typical wood sashes with single pane glass and aluminum jamb liners. These were popular once upon a time. To update your windows with the least amount of cost, I recommend installing vinyl replacement windows with insulated glass.
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Paul from SWISCO responded:
November 2, 2016
Ah, I see. For old wood windows like this, you may be able to use a balance system like our Series 500 spiral balance. You would need to remove the old aluminum jamb liner, screw the Series 500 in at the top, then attach the bottom of the spiral to the bottom of the sash with a bracket like our 17-012. You'd have to make sure the side channel in your sash can work with the diameter of the Series 500, however. |
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Tom from SWISCO responded:
August 19, 2020
Rather than go by the combined height of the sashes, we go on a sash-by-sash basis. Specifically, what you want to do is get the visible glass height of the sash that's taking the new balance. Then, add 3" if it's the lower sash or 1" if it's the upper sash. For example, let's say you need to replace the balances on the lower sash. If the visible glass height is, say, 24", then you want a 27" long balance. That's the S500-27. If you're also doing the upper sash and its visible glass height is also 24", then you go with a 25" long balance, or S500-25. A detailed pricing breakdown can be found on each product's respective store page. |
I hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend.
I want to discard the aluminum jamb liners on my 1960s wood windows. The upper and lower visible glass height are both 22" so I believe I need 25" and 23" spiral balances. I'm starting with some small windows, each sash weighs under 6 lbs. so I don't know if I need the 500 or 400 series. I think a 5/8" tube will fit in the sash groove but I won't know for sure until I try it; is there any other reason to choose between the 400 or 500 series besides sash weight?
Also, without the jamb liners the sashes will need weatherstripping so I would appreciate your advice on that as well. Thank you.
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Tom from SWISCO responded:
September 6, 2023
This is a very good question. Basically, the answer is that you want to pick between the Series 400 and Series 500 based not just on weight, but space available. There are a lot of cases where the window just doesn't offer you a lot of room to install a 9/16" balance, so the 3/8" is the only other viable alternative. However, weight is also an important consideration. With a 6 pound sash, it's entirely possible that the 9/16" Series 500 will be too strong even if it does fit. You don't want the spring to be too strong, otherwise the window will end up being too hard to close. The minimum weight threshold for the S500-25, for example, is 7 pounds under the Red Tip. That's only a pound off from your sash, so it may not be the end of the world, but you will notice the difference. |
