Greenhouses, Sheds and Sun Rooms - Using old sliding glass door panels to enclose porch, how do you clean them?

We are enclosing our 16'x28' covered deck using 4 sliding glass doors and the rest with just the glass from some older sliding doors. Our problem is that when the panels were in the door they are filled with some kind of gas or whatever to keep them from fogging up. When separated for our purpose we have found that a residue is left behind that we can't clean off. Does anyone know what will clean that sticky film off of there? We have tried everything from glass cleaner to toilet bowl cleaner, hubby even tried drain cleaner, no luck. Any suggestions?

Thank for any input.
Barb

IF its double pane and the problem is internal then it's hard to deal with. You can drill a small hole in the glass to ventilate it as it's usually moisture trapped inside. On the outside try CLR (calcium, lime, rust ) remover. Although its hard to get mineral deposits off. I've scraped with a razor blade after CLR loosens it up and powerwashed but have had only small success.

Once the seal has broken on dual pane glass, they tend to fog white between the panes. There is no way to remove this.

Like twelvepole said, if these were dual panes and the fog is between the panes, you are Short On Luck. They are IG units, and the ONLY way to get rid of the fog is to replace them with new IG units.

Like Lefty and Twelvepole said, if you are describing a residue between the glass panes, then you are out of luck. Nothing you can do to fix that problem.

But, if the stain you are describing is on the outside of the glass, then you may be dealing with etched glass. Etching occurs when glass is stored in moist conditions. Water condenses on the surface of the glass and when it evaporates the minerals in the water react with the glass and cause microscopic damage to the surface of the glass. This damage cannot generally be removed or repaired.

There are professional window cleaning products available that MIGHT help you, if the stain is exterior of the IGU. These products are used by the window washing industry and will work on hard-water stains and even etching if it isn't too severe. One product that works very well is called A1 Hardwater Stain Remover. Site rules prohibit me from saying where to find this product (as I understand them), but you might try Google if it seems to be appropriate for your requirement. This is a professional product and it isn't cheap, but it might work for you.

Good luck.