Where to put contacts on these single hung windows? (pics)

[gnat86]

Hello,
 
I'm building new and have some Anderson Silverline single hung windows. I can't figure out a good place to hide the contacts on these because there is a metal "sleeve" between the sash and the frame that the tension wire runs inside of. This sleeve is preventing me from putting a rare earth magnet on the side of the sash and contact in the frame because the sleeve would be in between them. I do not want to put the sensor in the bottom of the frame (to avoid water leakage). Is my only option to use a surface mounted contact like the Tane pill? Pics below. Thanks for any suggestions. 
 
 

 

 

 
 

 

[apostolakisl]

It looks to me like you are going to have to surface mount.  The counter balancing track on the side appears to use almost 100% of the space on the sides.  You never drill a hole in the sill of the window, so that pretty much eliminates all the places you could put a recessed contact.

 

[Del91574]

Since you don't want to recess in the sill, you're going to need a surface contact, no matter what, but assuming you don't care about drilling the extrusion, you can angle drill and miss the spring balance and get into the stud bay easily.
 
Don't forget the returns on the jamb are going to push out the drilling location 1/2-3/4" (sheetrock vs. trim)

 

[apostolakisl]

I looked at the photos again.  That metal sleeve looks like it moves up and down with the window.  When the window is open, does the sleeve hit the top of the track on the side or is there some space?  if there is enough space for a magnet, you could epoxy or otherwise secure your magnet to the top edge of that metal sleeve and put your contact through the side of the frame recessing it flush with the track.  If removing that sleeve is possible, you could drill a hole in it secure the magnet within the hole, again using epoxy.
 
Square shaped magnets like these http://www.ebay.com/itm/100PCS-Super-Strong-Block-Cuboid-Magnets-10-x-5-x-1-mm-/231016881043?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35c9addb93 might slip inside the end of the metal sleeve and could be epoxied in there leaving the top half sticking above the metal. 

 

[gnat86]

DELInstallatoins, I'm having trouble visualizing what you mean by "Don't forget the returns on the jamb are going to push out the drilling location 1/2-3/4" (sheetrock vs. trim)". Could you elaborate? Sorry, not familiar with this stuff much. 
 
Lou, good questions/thoughts! I will check tonight and see if there is any space up there or to see if the sleeve is easily removable. 
 
Thanks guys!

 

[apostolakisl]

DELInstallatoins, I'm having trouble visualizing what you mean by "Don't forget the returns on the jamb are going to push out the drilling location 1/2-3/4" (sheetrock vs. trim)". Could you elaborate? Sorry, not familiar with this stuff much. 
 
Lou, good questions/thoughts! I will check tonight and see if there is any space up there or to see if the sleeve is easily removable. 
 
Thanks guys!

 
You wouldn't have to remove the metal sleeve at all if 1) A magnet like I linked to fits in side of it and 2) there is room for the magnet to stick out the top 1/4 inch or so when the window is open. 
 
You would just slide the magnet in the end of the sleeve to the outside of the wire in the sleeve and secure it with epoxy.  Drill your hole in the window casing out the side at the level the magnet lives when the window is closed.  Perhaps to drill the hole you would need to move the sleeve out of the way, but I suspect you could just push it to the side along with the counter balancing cable.

 

[Del91574]

Drilling the sills is a very common installation practice, but there are warranty concerns as well as the design of the extrusion to consider before doing such.
 
The sleeve is part of the window spring balance and travels up/down with the sash.

Putting magnets directly in/on steel compresses the magnetic field, so your gap is going to go down as well.
 
If drilling any portion of the vinyl is out (warranty) then you're left at exposing a short piece of cable and the contact to avoid warranty issues. Vinyl windows, no matter where you drill, once done, the warranty is gone, so sill or side, makes no difference besides the possibility of water getting in.

From the rough framing, depending on the interior finishes, you're going to have 1/2" sheetrock or, in the case of wood, 5/4 stock (5/8-3/4" nominal) that is going to be installed over the rough framing, so what is really exposed, while it looks huge now, is really going to be very slight and small. I'd say, by sight, you're going to have 1" of exposed vinyl once the window is trimmed out, then figure most "common" contacts are going to be about 3/8" inch or slightly more, so if you space them well, you could have 0 exposed cabling, be within the nominal gap of a WG contact and have it look reasonably attractive while negating warranty concerns.

 

[apostolakisl]

Here is an idea.  For this to work you must have about 1/2 inch of clearance between the top of the sleeve and the top of the track when the window is open.
 
The red piece would be wood or plastic and sized to slip inside the sleeve.  You would epoxy the magnet to the one end of the red piece, then slip the other end into the sleeve and epoxy it.