Measured efficiency improvements from duct retrofits on six electrically heated homes. Final report
Purpose of this project was to assess effects of duct air sealing retrofits on heating system efficiency and duct leakage in six Pacific Northwest homes. These homes had all-electric, forced-air heating systems, and had in excess of 400 cfm duct leakage to outside at 50 Pa before the retrofits were made. The retrofits were very aggressive and were done using mastic and fiberglass tape. A complete set of heating system efficiency tests was performed both before and after retrofitting on each home. Efficiency measurements were made with the use of temperature controlled space heaters to simulate heating by electric baseboards. On average, duct leakage to outside was reduced by more than 70%, system efficiency was improved by more than 16%, and average power losses were reduced by nearly 50%, indicating that this type of retrofit can significantly improve the performance of the heating systems, particularly for homes with a large amount of duct air leakage to outside.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Ecotope, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 89502
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR--104426
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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