Saturn Resource Management Public Forum http://forum.srmi.biz/ energy auditing and building science en Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:28 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.srmi.biz/images/misc/rss.png Saturn Resource Management Public Forum http://forum.srmi.biz/ Defining Stack Effect http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?395-Defining-Stack-Effect&goto=newpost Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:52:37 GMT Hi Darrel, I have a question. Is stack effect a pressure or an air flow? I see it referred to as an air flow, but then its origin is the... Hi Darrel,
I have a question. Is stack effect a pressure or an air flow? I see it referred to as an air flow, but then its origin is the differential inside and outside temperatures combined with the height of the building. Then some will describe the warm vs colder air within a house as creating the air flow, which really isn't the whole story.

I like thinking of stack effect as a pressure and then any resulting air flow as just that, a resulting air flow. Since two tall buildings on a cold day, one well sealed and the other very leaky, will have the same stack effect pressure, yet a very different air flow, it seems the pressure is the better choice, or is it. The calculations for the pressure don't consider the leakage.

Bud ]]> Energy Principles and Science Bud http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?395-Defining-Stack-Effect Nice to be back http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?394-Nice-to-be-back&goto=newpost Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:33:07 GMT Hi Darrel and all the folks at Saturn, What a difference a year makes. It will be interesting to hear the questions now after auditors have had... Hi Darrel and all the folks at Saturn,
What a difference a year makes. It will be interesting to hear the questions now after auditors have had more time in the field.

Bud ]]> Introductions Bud http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?394-Nice-to-be-back air leakage http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?393-air-leakage&goto=newpost Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:10:20 GMT Hi, is there a way to determine energy savings with just the difference between blower door test numbers? Thanks Hi, is there a way to determine energy savings with just the difference between blower door test numbers?
Thanks ]]> Insulation and Air Sealing Paul L. http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?393-air-leakage Sizing radiation http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?392-Sizing-radiation&goto=newpost Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:21:09 GMT I'll try to be brief as this can be a long discussion. On another thread (other forum) it was argued that when weatherizing a large home with lots of baseboard one cannot downsize the boiler to match the new heat loss calculations (manual J) but must match the new boiler to the existing radiation. The explanation was that the new, smaller, boiler would not be able to properly deliver its heat uniformly with so much radiation and that few home owners would be willing to re-plumb the house for less radiation.

I'm slow at times and HVAC is not my field, but after some thinking, here is my take. Once a home, as suggested above, has been weatherized, the delivery of heat from the old oversized boiler or a new right-sized one would be essentially identical as the delivery process comes from the boiler's supply of hot water which is reheated as needed by the burner, large or small.

Now, this is where the thread can become long as to illustrate this we could run through several scenarios of homes and boilers to describe the sequence of delivering heat. Before I get into that, let's hear from others as to which they think is correct, size to the radiation or size to the new lower manual J?

I believe the excess radiation is a separate issue independent of the boiler size and dependent upon the building's heat loss and it should be addressed regardless of what size boiler is in place.

Bud ]]> HVAC and Mechanical equipment Bud http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?392-Sizing-radiation Energy retrofit of WWII home in Bath MA by energy auditor http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?391-Energy-retrofit-of-WWII-home-in-Bath-MA-by-energy-auditor&goto=newpost Mon, 30 May 2011 00:37:25 GMT Came across this article: Buttoning up your house saves energy and money: proof from the midcoast... Came across this article:

Buttoning up your house saves energy and money: proof from the midcoast

Quote:
BATH, Maine — Last spring, former carpenter Al Heath decided to launch a deep energy retrofit on an old Bath home to see how energy efficient he could make the place.He spent $62,000 to acquire a one-story, 1,200-square-foot structure at 2 Office Drive. The home was built around World War II.Heath then set out to spend about $40,000 making it as energy efficient as possible, with hopes of cutting the home’s power and heat use by 75 percent.In late April 2010, The Times Record published a three-part series following Heath’s work, what steps he took and how much he spent to take them.Now, with a snowy winter of heating bills under his belt in the newly renovated home, Heath spoke Thursday to The Times Record to explain whether his project made financial sense in the end.“The goal was 75 percent [reduction in energy usage], and that was based on energy modeling, in which you build a theoretical model of how the house is insulated and how tight it is and predict how much the house will use in an average winter,” Heath said in a short telephone interview Thursday. “I ended up with 74 percent savings, equaling $3,100 [ess in heating and electricity bills than previous winters]. That’s based on $3.50 per gallon in heating oil
...

Hat Tip/The Oil Drum ]]> Insulation and Air Sealing RBMac http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?391-Energy-retrofit-of-WWII-home-in-Bath-MA-by-energy-auditor defining independent http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?390-defining-independent&goto=newpost Sun, 29 May 2011 15:11:13 GMT How do we define an independent energy auditor? Regardless of the individuals ethics, an energy auditor who works for a weatherization contractor... How do we define an independent energy auditor? Regardless of the individuals ethics, an energy auditor who works for a weatherization contractor will (or should be) viewed as representing the interests of the employer he works for. An independent EA, on the other, hand should be aligned with the interests of the home owner.

So, how do we convey this message?

Is it important to separate the independents from the auditor employees?

Besides ethics, what else identifies an independent, ie what would they typically do that an employee auditor would avoid?

Bud ]]> Business Operations and Employment Bud http://forum.srmi.biz/showthread.php?390-defining-independent