Product Testing & Certifications
Assurance of Manufacturing Standards & Product Performance
Sun Windows participates in various certification and testing programs to validate our product designs, components, and manufacturing processes. These certifications help establish how well-qualified our products are for our customers' applications. Additionally, Sun is active in other programs and efforts that help enhance environmental stewardship and the promotion of environmentally friendly products.
National Fenestration Ratings Council (NFRC)
All Energy Star windows must be NFRC rated, certified, and labeled for U-factor, Solar Heat Gain, Visible Light Transmittance, and Air Leakage.
National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) is a non-profit, public/private organization created by the window, door, and skylight industry. It is comprised of manufacturers, suppliers, builders, architects and designers, specifiers, code officials, utilities, and government agencies. NFRC's primary goal is to provide accurate information to measure and compare the energy performance of window, door, or skylight products.
Rating System
NFRC has established a voluntary national energy performance rating and labeling system for fenestration products.
The NFRC label rates:
U-factor, or how well a window keeps heat inside a building.
Solar heat gain, or a window's ability to block warming caused by sunlight.
Visible light transmittance, or how much light gets through a product.
Air leakage, or heat loss and gain by infiltration through cracks in the window assembly.
Hallmark Certification Program
(by Window and Door Manufacturers Association)
The Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) sponsored Hallmark Certification Program is designed to provide code officials, builders, architects, specifiers, and consumers with an easily recognizable means of identifying products that have been manufactured following the appropriate WDMA and other referenced performance standards. The WDMA Hallmark is considered a mark of excellence among architects, contractors, and other specifiers and is accepted industry-wide. WDMA Standards are referenced by HUD/FHA in their Minimum Property Standards and by many other government agencies in their construction specifications.
The WDMA Hallmark Certification Program is ongoing. The Conformance of participating manufacturing plants is determined by periodic in-plant inspections by a third-party administrator. The inspections include auditing manufacturer quality control procedures and processes, and a review to check that products are manufactured following the appropriate WDMA and other referenced performance standards. Periodic testing of representative product samples and components by a third-party testing laboratory is also required. When all of the conditions are met, the licensee is authorized to use the WDMA Hallmark registered logo on the Certification Label as a means of identifying products that comply with all aspects of the applicable standards. WDMA itself does not certify individual product units; certification is on a per-product line basis.
Kentucky Proud
Kentucky Proud™ is a program developed by the Agriculture Industry in the state of Kentucky to promote locally grown and produced products. Although mainly focused on Food and Food products, it also recognizes products that are made here. Sun Windows is proud to be recognized by Kentucky Proud as a beneficial Kentucky-made product. This ties in directly with our Regional Focus and support of our local economy.
