CASE STUDY OF DUCT RETROFIT OF A 1985 HOME AND GUIDELINES FOR ATTIC AND CRAWL SPACE DUCT SEALING

Boudreaux, Philip R¹  Christian, Jeffrey E¹  Jackson, Roderick K¹ 

[1] ORNL

关键词: AIR CONDITIONING;    ATTICS;    CLIMATES;    CONTRACTORS;    DUCTS;    ENERGY ACCOUNTING;    HEATING;    RECOMMENDATIONS;    RESIDENTIAL SECTOR;    VENTILATION;    HVAC SYSTEMS Duct;    Retrofit;    Attic;    Crawlspace;    guidelines;    best practices;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1039230
RP-ID  :  ORNL/TM-2011/501
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1039230
Others  :  Other: BT0101000
Others  :  RABT002
Others  :  TRN: US201209%%517

学科分类：能源（综合）

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is fully committed to research for developing the information and capabilities necessary to provide cost-effective residential retrofits yielding 50% energy savings within the next several years. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the biggest energy end use in the residential sector, and a significant amount of energy can be wasted through leaky ductwork in unconditioned spaces such as attics and crawl spaces. A detailed duct sealing case study is presented for one house along with nine brief descriptions of other duct retrofits completed in the mixed-humid climate. Costs and estimated energy savings are reported for most of the ten houses. Costs for the retrofits ranged from $0.92/ft2 to $1.80/ft2 of living space and estimated yearly energy cost savings due to the duct retrofits range from 1.8% to 18.5%. Lessons learned and duct sealing guidelines based on these ten houses, as well as close work with the HVAC industry in the mixed-humid climate of East Tennessee, northern Georgia, and south-central Kentucky are presented. It is hoped that the lessons learned and guidelines will influence local HVAC contractors, energy auditors, and homeowners when diagnosing or repairing HVAC duct leakage and will be useful for steering DOE s future research in this area.