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The
Home Energy March/April 2002 Feature: |
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Moisture
Problems in Manufactured Housing
Manufactured homes are
affordable to many. A study points the way to making
them healthy by
dealing with moisture problems.
by Neil Moyer
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Quantifying A/C duct leakage
and identifying when and where it takes place can
make a big contribution to energy efficiency. Consequently,
duct leakage testing is a major part of the diagnostic
and inspection work performed by D.R. Wastchak,
L.L.C., in Phoenix, Arizona. Since January 1999,
we have completed more than 1,500 duct leakage tests
and a similar number of blower door tests on new
homes. Approximately 90% of our compliance/quality
control testing of A/C systems is on homes at the
framing stage of construction, just after the systems
are roughed in; however, there are many instances
when we must test new systems after a home is completed
and the A/C system is fully operational. We observed
that test results at this latter stage of construction
were consistently higher, showing leakier A/C systems,
than results of tests done during the framing stage.
This led us to wonder if there was a predictable
difference that would allow us to extrapolate from
one test result to the other, depending on when
the leakage data were collected. To
evaluate these differences, we developed a battery
of tests on a sample of homes in the Phoenix market
(see Table 1). The data we obtained enabled us
to quantify leakage at air handler units, at metal
supply boots (to outside), and at supply registers
(to inside). Furthermore, we were indeed able
to extrapolate the leakage at air handler units,
boots, registers, and ducts, based on duct leakage
data collected when a house is completed. This
procedure greatly enhances our ability to locate
problems in a new system. Finally, we used the
test battery to study the differences between
measurements of duct leakage using a Duct Blaster
and measurements using the blower door subtraction
method.
Full
Article (PDF,
140k) | Table
of Contents |
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| 2004
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