Air Distribution Retrofit Strategies for Affordable Housing

Dentz, J.¹  Conlin, F.¹  Holloway, Parker² 

[1] Advanced Residential Integrated Energy Solutions (ARIES), New York, NY (United States);Advanced Residential Integrated Ener

关键词: residential;    Residential Buildings;    ARIES;    Building America;    duct leakage;    duct sealing;    injected spray sealant;    Aeroseal;    air distribution systems;    airflow;    duct pressurization;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1221075
RP-ID  :  DOE/GO--102014-4394
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1221075
Others  :  Other: 6748

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

In multifamily and attached buildings, traditional duct sealing methods are often impractical or costly and disruptive because of the difficulty in accessing leakage sites. In this project, two retrofit duct sealing techniques, manually-applied sealants and injecting a spray sealant, were implemented in several low-rise multiunit buildings. An analysis on the cost and performance of the two methods are presented. Each method was used in twenty housing units: approximately half of each group of units are single story and the remainder are two story. Results show that duct leakage to the outside was reduced by an average of 59% through the use of manual methods, and by 90% in the units where the injected spray sealant was used. It was found that 73% of the leakage reduction in homes that were treated with injected spray sealant was attributable to the manual sealing done at boots, returns and the air handler. The cost of manually-applying sealant ranged from $275 to $511 per unit and for the injected spray sealant the cost was $700 per unit. Modeling suggests a simple payback of 2.2 years for manual sealing and 4.7 years for the injected spray sealant system. Utility bills were collected for one year before and after the retrofits. Utility bill analysis shows 14% and 16% energy savings using injected spray sealant system and hand sealing procedure respectively in heating season whereas in cooling season, energy savings using injected spray sealant system and hand sealing were both 16%.