Square Foot "Rule of Thumb":: How To Estimate A Cooling Load (And Maybe Heating Load)
Square Foot "Rule of Thumb":: How To Estimate A Cooling Load (And Maybe Heating Load)
Square Foot "Rule of Thumb":: How To Estimate A Cooling Load (And Maybe Heating Load)
Residential Standard: ** 1,000 SF/ton ** Newest estimate for residential (as long as R-30 in the roof and R-19 in the walls)
1. Economics- Most people understand that oversized equipment has a higher first-cost. However, oversized equipment also costs more to
operate due to increased cycling losses, depending on how badly the system is oversized. Short run-times are like stop-and-go driving: system
efficiency drops off as cycles become shorter. Also like automobiles, excess cycling is hard on equipment, especially the compressor. On
average, an oversized compressor will have a shorter life than an undersized or correctly sized compressor.
2. The high efficiency trap- The highest efficiency ratings go to multi-stage equipment. If sized correctly, a multi-stage air conditioner or furnace
will operate at reduced output (first stage) most of the time. Longer run times reduce cycle losses and thus improves efficiency. However, many
HVAC contractors intentionally size multi-stage equipment based on the first stage capacity and consider the high stage as reserve capacity for
extreme weather conditions or a big party. By taking this approach, contractors unknowingly cheat homeowners out of the efficiency they paid
for. Even when sized properly, the payback for multi-stage may exceed the life of the equipment.
3. Comfort Oversized equipment causes wider temperature swings, especially in perimeter areas and remote zones. Consider what happens if on
the coldest day, a furnace only operates 20 minutes an hour. As soon as the furnace cycles off, the house begins to cool from the outside in. The
thermostat is purposely located away from exterior walls and windows, often in a hallway. While the furnace is off, air doesn't circulate. By the
time the thermostat senses the lower temperature, perimeter areas may have dropped by several degrees. During mild weather when loads are
tiny, minimum runtime logic enforced by the furnace controls assures significant overshoot. Either scenario can cause discomfort – the greater the
oversize ratio, the larger the temperature swings. The same result occurs in cooling mode. Indoor relative humidity plays an important role in
comfort. In cooling mode, increased moisture will heighten the body’s sensation of heat, often leading occupants to compensate by lowering the
thermostat setting. Moreover, oversizing compromises an air conditioner’s ability to remove moisture (see Moisture Control, below), resulting in
discomfort and increased energy consumption.
4. Ergonomics An oversized system produces more noise than one that is properly sized. Not only is the source equipment noisier but diffuser
noise can be annoying if proper design procedures aren’t followed. With proper design, a correctly sized system in a low load home can be
virtually silent.
5. Indoor Air Quality Because an oversized system has shorter run-times, air filtration is reduced. During winter months, heat pumps provide the
best filtration since they run nearly continuously during cold weather. Grossly oversized air conditioners can lead to dust mites, mildew, and even
mold in extreme cases, the result of inadequate moisture removal (see Moisture Control, below).
6. Moisture control An air conditioner’s ability to remove moisture (latent capacity) is a function of the indoor coil temperature. Each time the air
conditioner starts up, it takes at up to 10 to 15 minutes for the coil to get cold enough to condense water vapor. Because an oversized system has
shorter run-times, it spends a higher percentage of the time operating in this initial ‘dry coil’ phase, thus removing less moisture. Peak moisture
loads tend to occur at part-load conditions, especially during Spring and Fall. In this situation, an oversized air conditioner may not run long
enough to condense any moisture, thus permitting indoor relative humidity to rise to unacceptable levels. A major selling point of multistage air
conditioners is improved moisture control during part-load conditions. At best, this is an expensive solution to the part-load problem. But when a
multi-stage system is oversized, it’s no solution at all. In most climates, properly sized single stage equipment can maintain acceptable humidity
levels in high performance homes.
7. Structural Durability In many areas of the country, air conditioning is necessary to manage moisture loads. Perhaps the most insidious
consequence of oversizing is its impact on moisture removal. An oversized air conditioner removes less moisture than an air conditioner that’s
properly sized. Depending on the climate and the degree of oversizing, the consequences of excess moisture range from discomfort to serious
health issues, and from minor damage to structural failure. High relative humidity provides an ideal environment for destructive fungi to thrive.
Aside from the obvious health concerns, mildew left unchecked will eventually damage the host material. Paint, drywall paper and wood products
are all at risk. Atmospheric moisture also affects the dimensional integrity of wood. Solid wood products such flooring and wainscoting expand
as their moisture content rises. This can lead to cupping or bowing if the relative humidity gets too high.
Understand ALL component placement and what components are doing in a refrigeration
system (you know, compressor, condenser...)
Compressors compresses the refrigerant gas.
•At the discharge of the compressor, we should have refrigerant gas at high pressure and high temperature.
ANY mechanical air conditioning system (using refrigerant), regardless of overall design, uses these same
four components in their operation.
What is a conduction load (UAdeltaT), do I know how to use this equation multiple ways to
solve for U, A, or deltaT?
These are standard values for HVAC sir system operation at design:
Supply air temperature = 55°F at design
Return air temperature = 80°F at design
Where: Q = Btu/hr
cfm = Cubic Feet Per Minute of air flow into the space
ΔT = Temperature difference that is the driving load
Ex.
Given: Office building that has 25,000 ft2, what is the estimated design cooling load when the cooling system supplies air at 55°F
and the return air goes back to the air handler at 80°?
how to find the size of a commercial building given the load (or vice versa), or CFM, or deltaT (Q = 1.1 x CFM x deltaT)
Well, at 1.0 cfm/ft2, we would have a volumetric design flow of about 25,000 ft2 x 1 cfm/ft2 = 25,000 cfm
Utilizing Q = 1.1 x cfm x ΔT (equation 1) ΔT = (80°F – 55°F) = 25°F Q = 1.1 x 25,000 x 25 Q = 687,500 Btu/hr
**1 ton of cooling is equivalent to a cooling rate of 12,000 Btu/hr **
Psychrometrics
“Big 3” psychometric processes:
1. Cooling and Dehumidifying
•HVAC systems remove (dehumidify) an air stream by operating a heat exchanger surface below the dew point of the air flowing across the
surface. If the air crossing this surface is at a higher dew point temperature, it MUST condense. Another word for this is “Latent Heat
Transfer”. That is, the movement of energy through the removal of or addition of moisture in the air.
2.Sensible Cooling
•This is the cooling of the air only, there is no removal or addition of moisture in the air conditioning process. Note the change in “W”, the
humidity ratio on the psychrometric chart during this process. It does not change!
3.Evaporative Cooling
•Wet bulb temperature tells us (in a sense) how easily moisture can be evaporated into the air. Low wet bulb means evaporative cooling
processes (like humans sweating, or cooling towers running to support a chiller) will be very effective.
For outdoor environments, the meter uses all sensor data inputs in the following equation that weighs the wet bulb 70%, globe 20%, and dry bulb
10% of the weighted average:
WBGTout = 0.7Tnwb + 0.2Tg + 0.1Tdb
For indoor environments, the meter does not use the dry-bulb temperature since the globe and the dry-bulb should be equal without radiant heat.
The globe temperature is used since it will also detect non-solar radiant heat sources if they are present. The equation weighs the wet-bulb 70%
and the globe 30% of the weighted average:
WBGTin = 0.7Tnwb + 0.3Tg
To calculate the WBGT for continuous all-day or several hour exposures, use the average WBGT over a 60-minute period. For intermittent
exposures or exposures at different heat levels throughout a workday, average the temperature over a 60 to 120-minute period, depending on the
exposure duration.
As the WBGT increases, workers should be given a longer period of rest in a given work cycle.
“Sick Building Syndrome” was the result of efforts by Facility Managers shutting down ventilation (fresh outside air) as a way to save energy in
the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s.
With no outside air intake building occupants were subjected to an environment of 100% recirculated air.
Comfort?
Most people report comfort in a building space with 68-75°F air temps. At a coincident relative humidity of about 50%. “ASHRAE comfort
region”
Ex. Sitting outside on the patio at the local hostelry, in hot and humid conditions, with a cold drink in the summer guarantees that the outside of
that glass will be wet. Those conditions might be the outside of the glass temperature is around 50°F and the dew point of the air out on that patio
is likely 72°F or higher. 50°F is way below that dew point! Under those conditions, water WILL condense out of the air.
We depend on this process in our home and commercial air conditioning systems for cooling and dehumidification.
Preventing unwanted condensation is the reason we insulate chilled water piping, condensate drain piping, and other piping or devices that might
operate below the dew point of surrounding air.
What is relative humidity? It’s a measure of the amount of water in the air relative to that same “chunk” of air at saturation conditions. Hence,
relative. Museums, libraries, and paper manufacturers are all VERY concerned with the control of RH.
Enthalpy allows us to quantify how much total energy is in the air. This includes both sensible (temperature) and latent (moisture) components
of energy. We use enthalpy (Btu/lb air) to calculate how much energy you would need to remove or add to bring air to a particular HVAC
process design point.
Low-E
Two types of low-e windows: southern e & northern e.
•Southern E windows are used in climates that are cooling dominated
•Northern E windows are used in climates that are heating dominated
In southern E the low e coating (number 2 on image) does not allowed emission of energy from the hot “outside” glass to the inside of the
building.
In northern E the low e coating (number 3 on image) prevents the emission of energy.
12,000 Btu/h/ton
•12,000 BTU/hr is equal to ONE TON of cooling.
Refrigerants
Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) are known in the HVAC industry as “refrigerants”.
R-410A is currently used in smaller residential systems, R-134A is used in car refrigeration systems, and many other “R” refrigerants for low
temp. and other cooling applications.
Phase-out schedule of CFC and Halon chemicals for the US that came out of the Montreal Protocols (EPA)
The two primary phased out refrigerants are R-12 and R-22
ODP, GWP and such
ODP- Ozone Depletion Potential
GWP- Global Warming Potential
The system is “split” having both an indoor and an outdoor section. The condensing unit (compressor, condenser fan, and condenser coil) are
located outside while the evaporator coil, expansion device, and fan are located (typically) inside.
Best space to put a evaporator is in a conditioned space on the ground floor, but it’s typically put in the attic (a not so great space) to save a few
extra feet on the interior.
The second image shows a great way to do installs with the unit conditioned inside the envelope of the house, the installation prevents
condensation on the air handler and the ductwork. This type of install however is rarely seen in single family house construction and is seen more
in commercial due to space restrictions.
RTUs
RTU (CSI Section 23 74 16- Packaged Rooftop Air-Conditioning Units)
•All refrigeration units “dump” heat (of refrigerant) to the atmosphere. Some more efficiently than others (high SEER vs. low SEER).
•A packaged RTU cannot delivery efficiency to the same extent as a large centralized district cooling system.
•All of the piping, controls, wiring is contained in the RTU and ready to go
•RTU operates like a common “window unit”
While they do not have long lead times that are common for larger cooling equipment (chillers, cooling towers, etc.) RTUs are more difficult to
maintain and have a relatively short operational lifetime. Give or take 10-15 years.
Roof Curb (CSI Section 07 72 13 – Manufactured Curbs)
Could we now park 4 – 20 ton RTUs on Francis Hall for cooling? On the campus of Texas A&M, unlikely. We have a district cooling system
(large chilled water loop) that feeds all buildings on campus. Even if an RTU was an option, routing of ductwork for a 3 story building presents
some challenges. These challenges are about impossible for buildings with four or more floors.