What Is A Thermal Break?

While you may never have heard the term before, a thermal break is something you probably use in your day-to-day life without thinking about it. You employ them in the winter when you bundle up, in the kitchen when you cook, and even in your home when you make decisions on what doors and windows to install.

What Is A Thermal Break?

What Is A Thermal Break?

According to the second law of thermodynamics, heat transfers from the greatest source to the least. That’s why, if you pick up a hot pot with your bare hand, the heat transfers from the pot to your hand, burning your skin. Most of us, if asked to pick up that hot pot, would grab a pad, a towel, or some other material to wrap around our hand to protect it from that heat.

A thermal break, in short, is anything that stops a transfer of heat from a greater source, to a lesser. When you put on layers of clothes, the pockets of air between each layer act as a thermal break to stop your body from losing heat to the cooler air around you, for instance. In your home, windows and doors will have thermal breaks in them to stop the transfer of heat or cold, and to provide additional insulation. Double-pane windows, for example, will have air or gas in between them to stop the cold day from leaching out your heat, and a hot day from sucking out your cool air.

For more information on thermal breaks, and how they work with iron doors, simply contact us today!