Ventilation and leakage measurements in industrial buildings.

It has been estimated that 15% of the energy used for building services in the United Kingdom is consumed in industrial buildings. A large proportion of this is thought to relate to infiltration and ventilation. There has been very little information produced concerning infiltration rates in industrial buildings because of the difficulty in making accurate measurements. During the past three years, British Gas has made ventilation and building leakage measurements in a number of industrial and other large buildings in the UK. These include detailed measurements in a school, industrial laboratories, warehouses and industrial production units. These employ a variety of different construction types, heating systems, and provisions for ventilation. Detailed measurements have been made of ventilation rates and natural air infiltration using the British Gas "Autovent" measuring system and simple tracer gas decay tests. Building leakages were measured using "Watson House Leakage Testers". Some of the buildings were draught-sealed and re-measured t o assess the effectiveness of certain retrofit measures. This paper discusses the results of the measurements made with respect to the building type and construction, the sensitivity of the building to weather driven air infiltration and the effects of heating and ventilation systems on the ventilation heat losses. The effectiveness of some retrofit sealing methods on the modification of building ventilation rates and heat losses is also discussed, along with some examples of the cost effectiveness of these measures.