Engineering Commons^™

Balanced Return Air, Duct Airtightness, And Combustion/Dilution Air Code Compliance In 40 Central Florida Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report has been extracted from a larger report titled "Florida Building Code - Enhance Florida's Building to Next-Generation Energy & Mechanical Codes and Enrich Compliance", FSEC-CR-1678-06, November 29, 2006, which can be found at http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/pdf/FSEC-CR-1678-06.pdf

Measured Impacts Of Proper Air Conditioning Sizing In Four Florida Case Study Homes, Florida Solar Energy Center, Jeffrey Sonne

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Previous studies have shown that residential air-conditioning system oversizing is a common practice that has both energy and comfort penalties. A Florida Power and Light / Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) study involving over 350 homes found that 50% of the studies AC systems were over sized by 120% or more (James et al. 1997). The same study found oversizing AC systems by 1.0 to 1.2 times Manual J resulted in 3.7% higher cooling energy use and oversizing systems 1.2 to 1.5 times Manual J resulted in 9.3% higher cooling energy use.

The goal of Task 3.2, Benefits of Proper …

Comparison Matrix Of Florida Residential Building Energy Code And The International Energy Conservation Code (Iecc) 2006, Florida Solar Energy Center, Mangesh Basarkar

FSEC Energy Research Center®

This report presents a comparison of the differences between the Florida and the IECC (2006) residential energy code requirements. In addition to this summary, the documentation is divided into three sets of distinct comparisons: Comparison of Performance-based methods, Comparison of Prescriptive methods and Comparison of key provisions of the texts. In order to provide the best housing stock, with a code that is easy to implement and enforce, the final recommendation of the study was for Florida to maintain its own code, but consider incorporating some of the newer IECC measures.

Unbalanced Return Air In Residences: Causes, Consequences, And Solutions, Florida Solar Energy Center, James Cummings

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Field research performed in 70 central Florida homes found that return grills are almost always located in the central zone of the house, and that individual rooms rarely have ducted return air or return transfer pathways. When interior doors were closed, the closed rooms went to +0.0249 inches of water gauge (in w.g.) (+6.2 pascals (Pa)) wrt outdoors (wrt = with respect to), and the central zone went to -0.0116 in w.g. (-2.9 Pa) wrt outdoors. Room pressures as high as +0.150 in w.g. (+37.3 Pa) and central zone pressure as low as -0.059 in w.g. (-14.7 Pa) wrt outdoors …

Abstract/Conclusion: Understanding The Dehumidification Performance Of Air-Conditioning Equipment At Part-Load Conditions, Florida Solar Energy Center, Don B. Shirey Iii

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Air conditioner cooling coils typically provide both sensible cooling and moisture removal. Data from a limited number of field studies (Khattar et al. 1985; Henderson and Rengarajan 1996; Henderson 1998) have demonstrated that the moisture removal capacity of a cooling coil degrades at part-load conditions, especially when the supply fan operates continuously while the cooling coil cycles on and off. Degradation occurs because moisture that condenses on the coil surfaces during the cooling cycle evaporates back into air stream when the coil is off. This degradation affects the ability of cooling equipment to maintain proper indoor humidity levels and may …

Understanding The Dehumidification Performance Of Air-Conditioning Equipment At Part-Load Conditions, Florida Solar Energy Center, Don B. Shirey Iii

FSEC Energy Research Center®

Air conditioner cooling coils typically provide both sensible cooling and moisture removal. Data from a limited number of field studies (Khattar et al. 1985; Henderson and Rengarajan 1996; Henderson 1998) have demonstrated that the moisture removal capacity of a cooling coil degrades at part-load conditions - especially when the supply fan operates continuously while the cooling coil cycles on and off. Degradation occurs because moisture that condenses on the coil surfaces during the cooling cycle evaporates back into air stream when the coil is off. This degradation affects the ability of cooling equipment to maintain proper indoor humidity levels and …