Adam2 Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Anyone else had a huge piece of glass explode on them? Today had a 2mx2m x10mm toughened piece shatter while 4 of us were carrying it. Only minor cuts but could have been a lot worse. I think all in a state of shock after. Made a right mess of the floor. How could this happen? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughF Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Ouch! That's a scary moment. My experience with toughened is that a small point impact will set it off (think automatic centre punch vs car side window) but I can't think of what else would set it off. I tend to always specify laminated and toughened for my sealed units now, (I know this isn't one) as it seems worth it for peace of mind. On the plus side, I'm sure a trip to Dorset Glass on the nuffield will have it sorted out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 Yes! Slightest impact on the edge will make it explode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonner Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Had a couple of shower panels explode, long time after fitting and nobody near them. One went in the middle of the night, frightened the bejesus out of me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 7 hours ago, markc said: Yes! Slightest impact on the edge will make it explode. +1 Ours came with a warning label stuck to the glass saying never to stand it on a hard surface such as tiles or concrete. Only takes a bit of grit to create a scratch that becomes a fracture point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Inclusions 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanmenie Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 I had a conservatory roof panel explode whilst being fitted, my son in law was directly under it, but he escaped without injury thankfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pudding Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 I had a Pyrex measuring jug explode a couple of months ago on me. It was next to the sink and I was holding and moving a glass cup over it towards the sink to get a drink, and I must've just clipped the top of it and it completely exploded and sounded like a gun shot! There was glass 3-4m across the kitchen. Scared the crap out of me and I stood there for a few secs in shock thinking WTF has just happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2 Posted October 14, 2022 Author Share Posted October 14, 2022 Today we'll discuss costs for replacement 😖 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Breaking news Ok, got me. I thought "oh $hit, what now" Not to say your accident isn't horrific but it's been such a spiral of gloom lately that I was expecting something much worse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 When I was getting the glass for our balconies, one or two places offered an additional "heat soak" treated toughened glass. They put it through a process that essentially accelerates the impact that inclusions have. It's destructive, so the additional cost of heat-soaked glass reflects both the additional process cost and the average loss rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonner Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 23 minutes ago, jack said: When I was getting the glass for our balconies, one or two places offered an additional "heat soak" treated toughened glass. They put it through a process that essentially accelerates the impact that inclusions have. It's destructive, so the additional cost of heat-soaked glass reflects both the additional process cost and the average loss rate. Was that laminated as well as toughened ? Otherwise toughened alone doesn’t offer any protection from falling when it goes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Bonner said: Was that laminated as well as toughened ? Otherwise toughened alone doesn’t offer any protection from falling when it goes I got laminated and toughened for that very reason. That said, I don't believe building regs required laminated, at least for residential properties. Might be wrong about that, but either way, laminated makes a lot of sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2 Posted October 14, 2022 Author Share Posted October 14, 2022 33 minutes ago, Radian said: I was expecting something much worse! OK well, I'm glad I couldn't meet your expectations on this occasion 🙂 We've had our fair share of dramas along the way. Will request that the replacement is heat soaked and will get the supplier to install as well as my tilers are understandably not excited by the prospect of doing this again! Next time we'll design out any ideas of a 2m x 2m shower screen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrerahill Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 (edited) 13 hours ago, Adam2 said: Anyone else had a huge piece of glass explode on them? Today had a 2mx2m x10mm toughened piece shatter while 4 of us were carrying it. Only minor cuts but could have been a lot worse. I think all in a state of shock after. Made a right mess of the floor. How could this happen? I would parrot what has been said before and go with an inclusion in the glass, assuming you in fact did not hit anything. I had a glazed partition panel in my office break once, I was sitting in the office, only person in the office, when suddenly it just made a funny cracking noise and I looked up and the whole panel had shattered but still stood in place. It was the oddest thing. As you can imagine I was somewhat perplexed and with engineers hat on started to work out what happened. I noted the cracking appears to have a start point, which was the bottom of the panel about 150mm up from the bottom. The cracking fully radiated out from this point. I called the glazier the next morning who told me it would be an inclusion in the glass and it sometimes happened with toughened glass where a little defect is included in the glass which acts as a weak point. So if you were nowhere near anything when it broke, chances are an inclusion in the glass (debris/air) could have been flexed slightly and the molecular structure of the glass just lets go and twooshh! Hope your floor was not damaged. I found cleaning toughened up off a wooden floor is a very difficult process as you need to lift every piece up with a vacuum to stop scratching, but it fills a vacuum in no time! It is amazing the abuse toughened will take. I deconstructed a sun room when we were doing the extension and I took the 3.2m x 0.6m roof sections out, I was not too careful with them, and at some points they were bowed like a humpback bridge! In the end I broke them all up and made oversite concrete with them - I threw a concrete block down on top of them, it bounced off! I ended up going down and hitting the sides with a hammer which broke each one as a side impact will break it every time. Edited October 14, 2022 by Carrerahill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 Prince Rupert's Drop. Don't confuse with Prince Albert, or a Prince Henry. Not sure 35mm is wide enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 15 minutes ago, Carrerahill said: It is amazing the abuse toughened will take. I deconstructed a sun room when we were doing the extension and I took the 3.2m x 0.6m roof sections out, I was not too careful with them, and at some points they were bowed like a humpback bridge! We cleared up our garden of things that could get blown away before the massive storm earlier in the year. We overlooked one thing: a small side-table with a glass top. After the storm, we realised that the top had just disappeared. Quick search didn't locate it. We found it a couple of weeks later in a bush quite some distance from the table. It had been flung in the air by the wind, bounced at least a couple of times on the paving (based on chips along its edges), then landed in the bush. Still perfectly usable if you ignore a couple of edge chips. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: Prince Rupert's Drop. These are a central element of the novel Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey. I don't generally read historical or literary fiction (this is both), but I remember absolutely loving it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 14, 2022 Share Posted October 14, 2022 4 hours ago, Carrerahill said: I would parrot what has been said before and go with an inclusion in the glass, assuming you in fact did not hit anything. I had a glazed partition panel in my office break once, I was sitting in the office, only person in the office, when suddenly it just made a funny cracking noise and I looked up and the whole panel had shattered but still stood in place. It was the oddest thing. As you can imagine I was somewhat perplexed and with engineers hat on started to work out what happened. I noted the cracking appears to have a start point, which was the bottom of the panel about 150mm up from the bottom. The cracking fully radiated out from this point. I called the glazier the next morning who told me it would be an inclusion in the glass and it sometimes happened with toughened glass where a little defect is included in the glass which acts as a weak point. So if you were nowhere near anything when it broke, chances are an inclusion in the glass (debris/air) could have been flexed slightly and the molecular structure of the glass just lets go and twooshh! Hope your floor was not damaged. I found cleaning toughened up off a wooden floor is a very difficult process as you need to lift every piece up with a vacuum to stop scratching, but it fills a vacuum in no time! It is amazing the abuse toughened will take. I deconstructed a sun room when we were doing the extension and I took the 3.2m x 0.6m roof sections out, I was not too careful with them, and at some points they were bowed like a humpback bridge! In the end I broke them all up and made oversite concrete with them - I threw a concrete block down on top of them, it bounced off! I ended up going down and hitting the sides with a hammer which broke each one as a side impact will break it every time. I had a sheet of toughened naked secondary glazing (full height, half width of a Georgian sash window) approx 1600 high x 600 wide explode on me when I held it about 30 degrees off the vertical face (not edge) up gripped too close to lower end. No impacts - just the tension in a weak dimension by holding at the wrong angle. Quite an education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 It’s the spontaneous explosions of installed glass units that are fun 😉 Scares the shit out of everyone 😂😂😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 6 minutes ago, craig said: Scares the shit out of everyone I like technical terms, they sum up the effect so well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 On 14/10/2022 at 09:11, jack said: "heat soak" treated toughened glass. They put it through a process that essentially accelerates the impact that inclusions have. With our Austrian supplier, at a certain glass size it is automatically recommended. If it fails due to nickel sulphide inclusions. It’s tough luck, buy a new one. I’m at the stage now that heat soak on toughened, is standard on all sizes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 We had the glass oven door suddenly explode! No one near it. Oven not being used or just used. All sitting in another room when it happened. Dry cleaners were informed of imminent arrival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted October 15, 2022 Share Posted October 15, 2022 This was breaking news this morning. I think our chancellor was set up. https://youtu.be/LmLiEA59FCc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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