Rethinking multifamily resets and cutouts
- IRG, Madison, WI (USA)
In multifamily applications, where heating bills often run into thousands of dollars, reset-cutout combinations appear to be very attractive retrofits because, when properly operated, they meet owners' needs for very quick returns on energy saving investments. Unfortunately, the author's observation of resets and cutouts operating under conditions the author typically found in residential multifamily buildings indicates that adjustable controls, such as most resets and cutouts, will often be defeated through poor installation and maladjustment. This appears to be true even when programs incorporate mechanisms aimed at training building operators to manage the controls correctly, and reinforce that training with written instructions and periodic reminders. Despite the massive and frequently reinforced education effort for control operators, his post-installation site visits revealed that resets and cutouts were still routinely defeated. Out of curiosity, he conducted a survey of cutout controls in spring 1990. The author has found that 19 of 19 cutout controls surveyed, all of which had been installed under the enhanced program, were rendered functionally inoperable because they were turned off or set far too high. Because this preliminary survey showed such poor results, additional research is now underway to assess the maintenance or disablement of these adjustable resets and cutouts.
- OSTI ID:
- 5521746
- Journal Information:
- Home Energy; (United States), Vol. 8:4; ISSN 0896-9442
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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320106* - Energy Conservation
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