Homes built to today’s building codes have tight envelopes (low infiltration!), high levels of insulation (low thermal conductivity!), and ducts in the conditioned space (small duct losses!). This leads to a situation where the home has comparatively low heating and cooling loads; say, 1500 ft2 or more of conditioned space per ton of mechanical cooling. The HVAC design problem becomes … how does a contractor cost-effectively ensure occupant comfort in a 2400 ft2 newly-constructed home where the sized HVAC equipment is only 1.5 ton … and providing only 600 CFM of air delivery for the entire home? This session addresses the design considerations, equipment offerings, and trade-offs of low-load homes.
This was the third event in the 2020 Building Energy Code Webinar Series