I purchased and installed 11 single hung Milgard windows in June 1984 and March 1985 in Seattle, WA. I have replaced the balances in several of the windows at various times over the past 37 years and may have used incorrect balances in the past.
There are quite a few variations in the existing balances and I don't know which ones, if any, are original or correct. Several of the balances are broken. All need to be replaced. Seven of the windows have a mix of the following balances: 27D; 2740 D; 2740 CP. Two wider and heavier windows have a mix of the following balances: 25 5 BSI PN; 26 5 G19T CMC 1.
What is strange is that these windows are the same height as the seven above. All are hard to close. A small kitchen sink window has the following balance: 1540 BSI BP; and one window slightly smaller than the first seven has a balance labeled 24 B. This last window is the only one that works well. Other working windows are difficult to close. The first 7 windows weigh 19 pounds each; the second two windows weigh 23.5 pounds each; I could not remove the kitchen sink window due to lack of take-out clips; the last window weighs 14.5 pounds.
Some of the balance shoes and tops have wings and some do not. Some of the balance shoes have a built in pully but most do not. Identifiers on the window spacers themselves are difficult to read but look like: A-L-I AP 1 G A June 1, 1984 and March 15, 1985. Payment dates coincide with the window purchases as 6/16/84 and 3/28/85 respectively.I have submitted pictures, but, again, I have no idea which of these is from the original window purchase. All seemed to have worked at one time or another.Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.--Dean
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Tom from SWISCO responded:
November 4, 2022
Hello, Dean. I'm not sure how much help we can be for this project in its current state. Right now I'm in the same boat as you: I have no idea what balances are meant to go in these windows and there isn't really enough of a pattern to go by to make a confident judgment. Milgard has used an absolute ton of different balance assemblies on their windows in the past, including the two types you show in your photos, so that won't let us narrow it down, either. The best I can offer you is my best guess for the length of each balance, and, jumping off of that, the proper spring calibration in each case. However the Series (combination of nylon fittings and general configuration) is not something I can even guess at, due to how many different models you have in the house right now. To get started on size, I would like you to list the height of the visible glass for each sash that you're working on. This isn't the overall height of the sash, just the visible glass. |
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Casey from SWISCO responded:
November 16, 2022
Hi Dean, Thank you for your patience as we approach the holiday season. Tom is out of the office this week but he will be back on Monday to review your information and get back to you with his recommendations. |
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Tom from SWISCO responded:
November 22, 2022
Thanks for the additional information, Dean. Based on the information given, I believe you need our Series 385 channel balance for all cases. This has the 19-005 top and 15-004 bottom nylon fitting and I believe this is the model your windows had when they were installed.
Please let me know if you had any further questions about these assemblies. I would be happy to clarify on any point. |
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Tom from SWISCO responded:
November 23, 2022
Thanks so much! We appreciate it. Please let me know if we can be of any further assistance and I will do my best to help. |
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