Distinction Doors’ 44.5mm composite door has been found to be more energy efficient than a traditional timber and a solid core composite in a recent test.
Compared with a ‘well-known’ 48mm solid timber core composite door and a 44mm timber panelled door, the Distinction composite was reportedly found to be 19% more thermally efficient than the 48mm solid timber core composite door and 17% more thermally efficient than the 44mm traditional timber panelled door.
Dave Walker, Distinction’s technical director, said: “We’ve always known that our composite doors offer excellent thermal efficiency. These test results prove this to be the case.”
The doors were tested at the University of Salford’s ‘Energy House’. This is a ‘typical Salford’ 1919 terraced house, reconstructed in an environmentally controllable chamber in which climatic conditions can be varied.
Working with the university, Dave Walker and his technical team project managed the testing of all three doors in the Energy House, where the inside temperature was 25ºC and the exterior temperature, 5ºC.
The photos (right) show the thermal efficiency of each of the doors. The darker the blue, the less heat is being lost, while reds and greens – the predominant colours on the timber door – indicate high heat loss.
The scores of each door are also shown, with the lower scores equating to greater thermal efficiency. The Distinction composite door scored 6.8, the 48mm solid timber core composite door scored 8.4 and the 44mm timber panelled door scored 8.2.
Dave Walker concluded: “We have always known about the thermal efficiency benefits of our high density polyurethane foam core composite doors. Now our customers have the official proof that they are better than the alternatives, something that we know will help them to close more sales.”
