We had all of the windows on the front of our house tinted with 3M Window Film.

Derrick
by Derrick
It has really helped with our electricity bill and keeps the house much cooler.
3M Window Film
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  • Derrick Derrick on Oct 03, 2011
    If I didn't reply until now, I am very sorry. I haven't been on the site for a while. @Jean, I can see the double pane windows being an issue due to the design of the window itself. Our windows are not double pane. I have noticed, believe it or not, the transferred heat energy into the home is much less, but that solar energy doesn't dissappear obviously. (Energy is neither created, not destroyed). The film itself appears to hold (absorb) the heat instead of letting it come through the window. I have a laser thermometer and on a 95F degree day, the window film can easily read well over 100F. 105-110F as opposed to a clear window only reading slightly above the normal 2-3F difference due to the energy being allowed to come into the home. With that being said, that energy may not be ideal for a double pane window with internal structures, but for my single pane, there isn't a issue that I can think of or experienced. Thanks for sharing your experience you had. It is always good to know the good and the not so good. @YaminiM LEED AP, The film on our windows are still in place and has saved us so far about a whooping $10-15/month compared to the electrical bill from the previous year for the same month's electrical bill. I have been keeping up with the difference and so far it appears to be performing exactly as indicated. The rooms especially upstairs are noticably cooler (heat rises) and the A/C unit upstairs does not have to run constantly as it once did. We keep the temp upstairs @ 75F and the unit downstairs at 74F. The unit upstairs still runs more than the unit down stairs, but that could be just the design of the house and the way the air circulates with the open floor design. The units both are 3 yrs old and are kept on a maintance schedule so they run pretty effieciently. There are many times during the day in the middle of summer that neither unit is running (rare), but it happens and I think the window film has a lot to do with it along with proper insulation in the home of course. @Maria Rosario, no I didn't install it myself. This is a 3M product and only an authorized dealer can install it for the warranty to be active.
  • Susan M Susan M on Jul 14, 2014
    How does it effect view looking out
    • Derrick Derrick on Apr 02, 2015
      Sorry for the delay. The film doesn't effect much more than what you would expect with tint on the window. Can still see out without a problem even at night. The window is still as easy to clean as ever.
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