Speaker: John Sedine, Consulting Engineer
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, 1,500 square feet 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 2,400-square-foot 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 will address the design considerations, equipment offerings, and trade-offs of low-load homes.