Why does my shower door have to be tempered? And what does tempering mean?

WAYNE, N.J. - Aug. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- YES!  All shower doors must be tempered.  Whenever safety comes into play, the glass must be tempered according to law.  In fact, glass in any door must be tempered.  This also goes for windows within 24” of a door, or 24” from the ground.  Dining tables & protective tops that will be exposed to heat should also be tempered.  The reason all of these require tempering is because of the way tempered glass breaks as compared to regular glass.  Tempered glass is designed to break into little pieces similar to the size of rock salt.  It will not break in large jagged pieces like regular glass will.  This prevents anyone in the area of the glass breaking to be severely cut.

Tempered glass is made by taking regular glass, and putting it through an oven where it is heat treated at 1250 degrees, then rapidly cooled.  This tempering process actually makes the glass 5 times stronger when it is done.  After a piece of glass is tempered, you cannot alter it in any way.  If you attempt to cut or alter the piece of glass after the tempering process, chances are it will break.

There have been some instances reported where tempered glass has shattered on its own.  AMG Shower Doors http://www.amgshowerdoors.com has never experienced one of our customers with this scenario, but have seen it in various news articles.  It is our belief that there has to be some additional strain on the tempered glass in order for it to break.  With how strong tempered glass is, and no direct impact to the glass itself, there is really no way for it to break.  If a piece of metal on the hinge is hitting into the glass, that would certainly cause the glass to break.  If the shower door has a poor design and the weight distribution of the clamps are not correct, it may be causing additional strain at a certain point in the glass which would also cause the glass to shatter.  We are unsure of the exact reasons for this happening, but can say with confidence that this would not happen to your shower door if you choose to have it installed by the professional team at AMG Shower Doors.