[Greenbuilding] Ventilation for Unoccupied Tight Buildings

John Salmen terrain at shaw.ca
Sun Aug 24 12:24:15 CDT 2014


Thats the problem – not sure if trite and trendy go together all that well

 

From: Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Norbert Senf
Sent: August-24-14 9:48 AM
To: Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Ventilation for Unoccupied Tight Buildings

 

Not to be trite, but why not put a controller on the ERV system to turn it on once a day, or some other interval determined through testing,  and change the air?......Norbert

 

On Sun, Aug 24, 2014 at 11:28 AM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:

Well that is one way of showing a low annual energy consumption for a passiv haus building (turning off the ventilation). These are large buildings probably around 400000 ft3 so even a .6 leakage is a lot of moist air entering.  Dealing with that air humidity would/should mean doubling air change rates and or drying the air. Windows could be effective for some air movement but distribution in a large building? It does come down to materials and the ability to deal with moisture if the intent is to have a building lie dormant. Would love to see an air quality test for contaminants for a tight building that is shut down for a few months – I feel sorry for the returning students.

 

From: Greenbuilding [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Clarke Olsen
Sent: August-24-14 7:06 AM
To: Green Building
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Ventilation for Unoccupied Tight Buildings

 

It seems intuitive to leave some windows open, and let the building breath, dare I say it, naturally.

Clarke Olsen
clarkeolsendesign.com
373 route 203
Spencertown, NY 12165 
USA
518-392-4640
colsen at taconic.net



 

On Aug 24, 2014, at 8:33 AM, "conservation architect" <elitalking at rockbridge.net> wrote:

 

I have learned of some problems with college dormitories of a Passiv Haus building that was left unoccupied with not conditioned or ventilated with ERV over the summer and got some molding problems.  I am wanting to inquire about what the best practices are for unoccupied tight buildings.  Since they are unoccupied, I would hope you could turn the energy consuming machines off.  The humidity sources within the would be reduced, (breathing, cooking, bathing, et.).  Although you would still have ambient humidity and standing water of toilets.  Perhaps it would be a good practice to drain the toilets.  This issue would be more significant in the Summer of high ambient humidity.  I live in the mixed climate of Virginia.  However, I would be interested in comments as it relates to other climates.  My question applies to tight buildings that have active dehumidification (ac or dehumidifier) and ERV, or no active dehumidification and HRV.   Eli  

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-- 
Norbert Senf
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Road, RR 5
Shawville Québec J0X 2Y0
819.647.5092
www.heatkit.com 

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