More Q&A Spotlight
Christopher Vernott is an architect at work on his own home — a tight, well-insulated house in southeastern Connecticut — and the time has come to rough-in the heating and cooling system.
Because of the double-stud wall construction, triple-glazed windows, and careful air-sealing, his heating and cooling loads are low, he writes in a Q&A post at Green Building Advisor.
Manual J calculations, the standard means of sizing heating and cooling equipment, show he will need 11,000 Btu per hour of heat on the first floor and 5,300 Btu per hour on the second floor. Cooling loads are a little higher: 12,500 Btu/h on the first floor and 7,000 Btu/h on the second floor.
“My safe design strategy includes a [Mitsubishi] Hyper Heat head sized for the first floor load and a minisplit ducted cassette on the second floor with two to three short runs supplying the bedrooms,” he writes. “My second design, somewhat more risky, includes one Hyper Heat head sized for the whole house and located on the first floor.”
Both plans include an energy-recovery ventilator (ERV).
Vernott isn’t as concerned with heating as he is with cooling, in particular the south-facing second-floor bedrooms.
“If I exhaust the first floor with ERV pickups close to the floor level to grab the cool air, and then supply the bedrooms on the second floor with the tempered incoming fresh air, will it be enough to cool down the bedrooms a little?” he asks.
That’s the topic for this Q&A Spotlight.
It depends
GBA senior editor Martin Holladay doesn’t offer much encouragement for Vernott’s one-head plan. Pumping tempered fresh air into second-floor bedrooms won’t be enough to keep them comfortable, he says, referring Vernott to articles on the particular challenges of designing heating and cooling systems for…
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13 Comments
short cycling
"If I put a single head in the second-floor landing area, 5 ft. 6 in. by 7 ft., will the unit potentially short cycle in such a small area, even with all the bedroom doors open?"
You have a load calculation 5Kbtu/h for heat and 7 kbtu/h for cooling.. When I put in a heat pump the method the vendors used was to pick from the next size up, after calculating the required loads. I think there are 9 kbtu/h units. Oversized means they can handle the design day.. The variable speed compressor allows them to "wind down " to minimize short cycling on low load days
Again, the new high efficiency split duct heat pumps have a variable speed compressor that minimize short cycling. "High end mini-split heat pump technologies utilize variable speed compressors and fans allowing for a reduction in cycling losses, improved part load control, and enhanced humidity control."*
That said there is a design alternative.. the ducted minisplit ** , if you want to consider yet another alternative, but I thnk these are mostly for people who don't like the look of the head (go figure). The other alternative is to just put the unit on the bottom floor, and if you are uncomfortable in the summer add an overhead fan, or even a window unit (used only on the most miserable muggy hot days)
The post says you are in southern CT. From my experience in Massachusetts, there are usually only 3 or 4 days in the dead of August when an overhead fan is not enough
*http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/52175.pdf
**http://www.energyvanguard.com/blog-building-science-HERS-BPI/bid/55010
Green building designer woman wants comfort first!
First of all, you machos should update and realise there are many women who design and build green houses nowadays...and therefore they build what women want!
I did retrofit and expand a house in Westchester to 5200sqft and we had that discussion many times with my team. My priority is comfort all the way so I did put 3 mini splits not 2 in a 2.5 storey house: one on ground floor, one on 2nd floor landing and one in 2.5 th floor master suite. And I don't regret it while I paid for them!
Main facade is South but master suite on top floor also has western windows. And yes, roof overhang does not shade lowering afternoon summer sun. If like me, you have views, outdoor shading will alter them and might suffer outdoor weathering quickly. I love my mini splits because they are so silent and do not blast cold air on your head. They also have dehumidifying function with drain. No window box would match this comfortable silent system. And no, I won't let doors open inside: I want my privacy... Doors exist for that, right???
You can check out our website for more details and pics at http://www.mamaroneckpassivehouse.com
And contact the team to visit.
Veronique
So....what do women want.?
Re...
"First of all, you machos should update and realise there are many women who design and build green houses nowadays...and therefore they build what women want!"
My best guess is they want different things (in regards to HVAC, and , probably, life in general)
The mini split approach we are using
I can report from the field that we have decided to go with option 3 - 12k BTU mini split head on the 1st floor and a 9K BTU head at the 2nd floor landing. The $99 window shaker was not an option because we have tilt & turn European style windows which means they are not compatible with window shakers. I still wonder if we can condition the house enough in the summer with the 1st floor head only. I hope to report back on this in July or Aug. next summer.
GBA responses gave me comfort that short cycling would not be an issue with the 2nd floor mini-split head. The variable speed compressor and the power of convective forces will handle this issue. We have decided to exhaust the bedrooms with the ERV, and the grilles will be located at the far corner of the rooms away from the landing area. Even though the ERV is low volume, it should help pull the conditioned air into the bedrooms from the landing area.
Even if the 1st floor mini-split head is not enough to condition the house in winter and summer, it will probably work out that we cool with 2nd floor head only, and heat with 1st floor head only. Here is a novel idea: a single wall head unit that can change it's mounting location based on heating season or cooling season. Thanks all!
Christopher, Can you give an update on how the second floor landing unit worked out with closed bedroom doors? I’m considering a similar approach.
Dual Hose Portable AC/Heat Pump
Here's a good looking solution that is a couple notches above the window shaker option, but still under $500: http://www.compactappliance.com/EdgeStar-Extreme-Cool-14000-BTU-Dual-Hose-Portable-Air-Conditioner-Black/AP14001HS.html?mtcpromotion=Criteo%3EAir_Quality%3EPortable_Air_Conditioners%3EResidential_Units%3EAP14001HS&utm_source=Criteo&utm_medium=retargeting&utm_campaign=Air_Quality-Portable_Air_Conditioners-Residential_Units
In a new home, the rough-in couldn't be simpler - just a pair of 5" PVC pipes through the wall.
We are going to use one...
One unit for 2 stories. New home, not quite PGH standards but, pretty tight and insulated. Big difference is we're in PacNW, Seattle, where there are few really hot days. Our thoughts - we have stairs to the roof and can prop hatch to let out heat, and we can try window coverings and ceiling fans. We can try the upstairs minisplit in a couple years if it doesnt work. Our heating load is less risky, with radiant wall panels in the upstairs BR on those rare really cold nights.
I'm kind of sick of the sexist comments in building literature, e.g. "what the wife will tolerate." These things should be edited out. Also, heating loads in a shoulder season (October) do not seem relevant to this discussion.
kookala,
I completely agree that comments stereotyping women's abilities and perceived characteristics have no place in building blogs or anywhere else. However when they concern the differing ways in which women and men experience cold, due to physical and metabolic differences, it seems a pretty legitimate subject to bring up.
I see the issue less as that 'females' statistically experience temperature differently (physiologically) and more about the 'man speaks about wife' aspect. Not all females are wives, and not all those making heating system decisions are 'men with wives.'
Tyler,
I think Keith has a wife. I think Keith was talking about his experiences with his wife.
Malcolm,
I'm not arguing whether or not one's gripe with language in a Q&A is justified, I am merely pointing out my interpretation of said 'gripe.'
Would a WTHWT spec ever be found here, and if so would it be read in the same light? Maybe. I don't know.
kookala, thank you for raising this point. There is no doubt that these pages and building in general remain profoundly gender-segregated, but I'm hoping that is changing. We need EVERYONE on deck, and it's critical that we not fall back on old chauvinist tropes. Period.
Malcolm's right, though: people of all shapes and sizes and... genders have a different experience of HVAC systems, and this is a topic that often my clients bring up before I do. It's important that we consider it without belittling or guilt-tripping--even in jest--those whose needs are variant from some "normal." If we grapple with this topic openly and honestly, maybe we also can end the toxic absurdity of virtually all American commercial spaces being cooled to 65 in the summer.
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