Analysis of air leakage measurements of US houses

Chan, Wanyu R.; Joh, Jeffrey; Sherman, Max H.

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.07.047

Cited by 121 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In addition, the execution also seems to be a relevant factor in the airtightness of the envelope [36,37]. Several authors have also considered that the climatic zone is a variable to consider [28,38].…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to define relevant control variables, a review of previous studies that have established predictive airtightness models in residential buildings [26] has been used. It is deduced that one of the variables with greater relevance is the year of construction [27][28][29][30]. Also, characteristics of the building such as typology [31], type of construction [30], type of window/glazing [15] and window frame [6,32], foundation [28], construction system [33], materials [15,24,32,34], floor area [28], total height [28], number of storeys [33], ventilation system [35,36], type of insulation [30] and sealing devices [34], and management type [31] should be considered.…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Buildings located in cold climates tend to be more airtight than others located in temperate climates [41]. Climatic zones do not only affect weather conditions, but they can also establish differences in regulatory requirements or different construction systems [28]. A simplification of the climatic zones in Spain has been made, obtaining a total of four zones: Continental, Oceanic, Mediterranean, and Canary Islands (Figure 1).…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

et al. 2018

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Air leakage and its impact on the energy performance of dwellings has been broadly studied in countries with cold climates in Europe, US, and Canada. However, there is a lack of knowledge in this field in Mediterranean countries. Current Spanish building regulations establish ventilation rates based on ideal airtight envelopes, causing problems of over-ventilation and substantial energy losses. The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology that allows the characterization of the envelope of the housing stock in Spain in order to adjust ventilation rates taking into consideration air leakage. A methodology that is easily applicable to other countries that consider studying the airtightness of the envelope and its energetic behaviour improvement is proposed. A statistical sampling method has been established to determine the dwellings to be tested, considering relevant variables concerning airtightness: climate zone, year of construction, and typology. The air leakage rate is determined using a standardized building pressurization technique according to European Standard EN 13829. A representative case study has been presented as an example of the implementation of the designed methodology and results are compared to preliminary values obtained from the database.

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Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

et al. 2018

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“…Many new homes in California and elsewhere are tighter than the test house (Chan et al, 2013), and high performance home standards require even tighter construction. With less air entering via infiltration, ventilation design (exhaust vs. supply/balanced) and the quality of supply filtration will have a larger impact on indoor concentrations of outdoor particles.…”

Section: Considerations For Low Energy Homesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measured performance of filtration and ventilation systems for fine and ultrafine particles and ozone in an unoccupied modern California house

et al. 2016

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This study evaluated nine ventilation and filtration systems in an unoccupied 2006 house located 250m downwind of the I-80 freeway in Sacramento, California. Systems were evaluated for reducing indoor concentrations of outdoor particles in summer and fall/winter, ozone in summer, and particles from stir-fry cooking. Air exchange rate was measured continuously. Energy use was estimated for year-round operation in California. Exhaust ventilation without enhanced filtration produced indoor PM 2.5 that was 70% lower than outdoors. Supply ventilation with MERV13 filtration provided slightly less protection whereas supply MERV16 filtration reduced PM 2.5 by 97-98% relative to outdoors. Supply filtration systems used little energy but provided no benefits for indoor-generated particles. Systems with MERV13-16 filters in the recirculating heating and cooling unit (FAU) operating continuously or 20 min/h reduced PM 2.5 by 93-98%. Across all systems, removal percentages were higher for ultrafine particles and lower for black carbon, relative to PM 2.5 . Indoor ozone was 3-4% of outdoors for all systems except an electronic air cleaner that produced ozone. Filtration via the FAU or portable filtration units lowered PM 2.5 by 25-75% when operated over the hour following cooking. The energy for year-round operation of FAU filtration with an efficient blower motor was estimated at 600 kWh/year. KEYWORDSResidential filtration, PM 2.5 , Ultrafine particles, Black carbon, Residential ventilation PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONSThis study quantitatively demonstrates the potential for advanced filtration to reduce in-home exposures to outdoor air pollutants through engineered systems. It also demonstrates that high quality filtration is required on supply ventilation systems to achieve the same reductions of outdoor particles as exhaust ventilation in a moderately airtight home. Results from this work should help inform the setting of filtration requirements for high performance home standards and building codes.

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“…The total glazing area was 39 m 2 , distributed proportionally according to the wall areas. Table 2 summarizes the Effective Leakage Area (ELA) and Normalized Leakage (nL) that ranged from Passive House levels of 0.6 ACH50 to 10 ACH50 typical of older, retrofitted homes (and close to the geometric mean of all U.S. homes in the LBNL Air Leakage Database (Chan, Joh, & Sherman, 2013). The ELA was combined with an assumed pressure exponent of 0.67 to determine the flow coefficient (c) for input to the infiltration models.…”

Section: Description Of the Test Homementioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Outdoor Temperature-Based Control Algorithm for Residential Mechanical Ventilation Control

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Walker

Tang

2014

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Executive SummarySmart ventilation systems use controls to ventilate more during those periods that provide either an energy or IAQ advantage (or both) and less during periods that provide a disadvantage. Using detailed building simulations, this study addresses one of the simplest and lowest cost types of smart controllers-outdoor temperature-based control. If the outdoor temperature falls below a certain cut-off, the fan is simply turned off. The main principle of smart ventilation used in this study is to shift ventilation from time periods with large indoor-outdoor temperature differences, to periods where these differences are smaller, and their energy impacts are expected to be less. Energy and IAQ performance are assessed relative to a base case of a continuously operated ventilation fan sized to comply with ASHRAE 62.2-2013 whole house ventilation requirements. In order to satisfy 62.2-2013, annual pollutant exposure must be equivalent between the temperature controlled and continuous fan cases. This requires ventilation to be greater than 62.2 requirements when the ventilation system operates. This is achieved by increasing the mechanical ventilation system airflow rates.There were four steps to this analysis:1. The outdoor temperature cut-offs were calculated-either as a fixed temperature (5°C), a fixed percentile (Q25 th ) 1 2. The REGCAP simulation tool was used to estimate the energy savings and IAQ impacts of using these cut-offs to control a mechanical exhaust fan. The simulated fans were not oversized and not compliant with 62.2-2013., or based on infiltration estimates (Inf and Inf2) using the stack part of the enhanced ventilation model (AIM-2) in the ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals.3. Exhaust fans were resized to maintain equivalence with 62.2-2013 using an iterative optimization procedure that incorporated both the stack and wind parts of the AIM-2 ventilation model. 4. The REGCAP simulation tool was used to calculate energy use and relative exposures, using oversized fans that provided equivalence with 62.2-2013.As shown in the figure below, new and existing, single-and two-story test homes from 10 to 3 ACH50 had substantial energy savings from the control of ventilation systems based on outdoor temperature, while maintaining equivalence with ASHRAE 62.2-2013 through fan oversizing. These savings reflect the maximum energy reduction estimate of the four temperature cut-off types (5°C, Q25 th , Inf and Inf2), for each combination of climate zone, airtightness, stories and house age. Limited savings were realized in milder climates for tighter homes of 1.5 ACH50. Temperature control is not recommended in climate zone 1 or in 0.6 ACH50 cases. In most cases, savings were greatest in 3 and 5 ACH50 homes. Annual HVAC energy 1 25 th percentile of annual hourly temperatures from TMY3 data files.iii savings ranged from approximately 100 kWh to 4,000 kWh (0.1 to 6% of total HVAC energy use). Absolute energy reductions generally increased with climate severity, though percentage savings were more consi...

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Analysis of air leakage measurements of US houses

Cited by 121 publications

References 11 publications

Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

Methodology for the Study of the Envelope Airtightness of Residential Buildings in Spain: A Case Study

Measured performance of filtration and ventilation systems for fine and ultrafine particles and ozone in an unoccupied modern California house

Development of an Outdoor Temperature-Based Control Algorithm for Residential Mechanical Ventilation Control

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