Evaluation of Ventilation Strategies in New Construction Multifamily Buildings
- Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), Norwalk, CT (United States)
In multifamily buildings, particularly in the Northeast, exhaust ventilation strategies are the norm as a means of meeting both local exhaust and whole-unit mechanical ventilation rates. The issue of where the "fresh" air is coming from is gaining significance as air-tightness standards for enclosures become more stringent. CARB researchers have found that most new high performance, multifamily housing in the Northeast use one of four strategies for ventilation: continuous exhaust only with no designated supply or make-up air source, continuous exhaust with ducted make-up air to apartments, continuous exhaust with supply through a make-up air device integral to the unit HVAC, and continuous exhaust with supply through a passive inlet device, such as a trickle vent. Insufficient information is available to designers on how these various systems are best applied. Product performance data are based on laboratory tests, but there is no guarantee that those conditions will exist consistently in the finished building. In this research project, CARB evaluated the four ventilation strategies in the field to validate system performance.
- Research Organization:
- Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB), Norwalk, CT (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
- OSTI ID:
- 1221045
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/GO-102014-4451; 6843
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Evaluation of Ventilation Strategies in New Construction Multifamily Buildings
Technology Solutions Case Study: Selecting Ventilation Systems for Existing Homes