duct sealing

In a sealed building with tight facades, conditions for a good indoor air quality and comfortable conditions must be guaranteed all the time especially for employees. This paper deals with the case of a specific retrofitted building without any openings that immediately shows many difficulties to maintain good indoor air quality in some parts of the occupied volume. An assessment of ductwork and HVAC system performance was first realized, conducted by the SNIA (National Airport Engineering Service).

Describes a new starter home designed to be climate-specifically energy efficient for the suburbs of Houston, Texas, USA. The home is intended to demonstrate energy efficient building strategies for a hot-humid climate, but at a minimum cost increase over the builder's current product. The many energy efficient technologies incorporated into the design proved that they allow builders to offer better homes at almost no added cost.

Describes how a new aerosol spray technology can allow weatherization crews to seal even tiny duct leaks in places that are difficult to reach using conventional methods.

States that to control humidity it is necessary to remove moisture load from ventilation air. The combination of increased ventilation and air conditioning brings more humidity in from outdoors with a greater chance that condensation will occur on surfaces chilled by the cooling system. Suggests that rooftop equipment for cooling is frequently oversized. Considers the nature and dimensions of the moisture loads.

This paper documents the energy savings observed for a program operated by the Eugene Water and Electric Board which provided duct sealing for mobile and manufactured homes as its principal measure. Billing data and associated mean outdoor temperature data on more than 400 participants for one or more years pre and post was used as the basis of the savings estimate. The observed savings were used along with site treatment costs to estimate a levelized cost of savings of 12 mills/kWh exclusive of utility management costs.

In 1995 Tacoma Power initiated a test of residential duct sealing to determine the feasibility of a full-scale program to improve the duct system in customer homes with central system electric heat.

In recent years, residential energy conservation research has focused attention on heating system distribution efficiency. Several field studies in the Pacific Northwest have found forced-air heating systems which have a majority of ducts located in unheated buffer spaces can lose as much as 3 0% of the equipment's heating output to duct air leakage and conduction loss. The magnitude of loss can be equivalent to the combined improvements in building shell insulation levels due to updated energy codes.