Ventilation research and characterization in three types of residences.

Pacific Power and Light Company and Battelle PNW Laboratories have completed a project which investigated residential ventilation rates. The results presented in the report discuss evaluation of methods used to measure ventilation rates, the behavior of ventilation rates in residences and the comparison of ventilation rates among home construction types. The perfluorocarbon tracer gas decay technique for measuring ventilation rates was concluded to be the best method used during the testing. This technique was easy to perform and resulted in highly accurate data when compared to a recognized standard. It was also found that fan depressurization results overpredicted air exchange rates in all three homes. The ventilation rate results of the three homes indicated the energy-saver home had the lowest rate, followed by the unoccupied home with the next higher, and the pre-weatherized home with the highest rate.