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Course Dates and online registration are available at the bottom of this page.

Course Description

Air flow and pressure problems are silently undermining green goals of maintaining healthy, energy efficient, durable buildings. This course uses several case studies and research by instructors that have first-hand experience in the examples they use to help students understand how the four primary forms of uncontrolled air flow are likely to undermine LEED certified buildings unless specific measures are specified as part of commissioning.

Course Learning Objectives

Primary objective is for student to be able to design or identify building envelopes in hot and humid climate that will minimize moisture and heat movement into building using durable materials.

Objectives; Each student will be able to:

• Name four types of uncontrolled building air flows.
• Explain how duct leakage impacts occupant health, safety, comfort, building durability, and energy consumption.
• Explain how unbalanced return air impacts occupant health, safety, comfort, building durability, and energy consumption.
• Explain how unbalanced exhaust impacts occupant health, safety, comfort, building durability, and energy consumption.
• Explain how excessive building leakage impacts occupant health, safety, comfort, building durability, and energy consumption
• Identify eight types of ceiling spaces and explain how the ceiling space type influences uncontrolled air flow impacts

Course Outline

Introduction

• Four Types of Uncontrolled Air Flow
• Fundamentals of Airflow and Pressure in Buildings
• Measuring Building Airtightness
• Eight Ceiling Space Designs

Case Study: Misdiagnosis of Moisture and Airflow Problems 55 min

Duct Leakage Impacts on Energy and IAQ

• Typical Duct Leak Locations
• Energy Impacts of Residential Duct Leaks
• IAQ Impacts of Residential Duct Leaks
• Case Studies of Commercial Duct Leakage Impacts
• Recent Research Results of Commercial Duct Leakage
• Sealing Methods of Air Distribution Ducts

Short Quiz and Answer

Unbalanced Return Air (URA)

• Causes of URA in Residential Construction
• Impacts of URA in Residential Construction
• Causes of URA in Commercial Construction
• Impacts of URA in Commercial Construction
• Code Changes Addressing URA
• Recent Research Results of URA in Residential Construction
  

Unbalanced Exhaust

• Causes of Unbalanced Exhaust
• IAQ Impacts of Unbalanced Exhaust
• Energy Impacts of Unbalanced Exhaust in Commercial Buildings
• How to Avoid Unbalanced Exhaust
• Measured Energy and IAQ Improvements From Retrofits

Short Quiz and Answer

Course Overview Using MAD air model

Questions and Answers

Qualifications of Instructors

James B. Cummings is a Program Director at FSEC where he has been principal investigator for 24 research projects over 18 years. He has conducted field research in more than 250 homes and 100 commercial buildings, identifying air flow, pressure differential, HVAC, and moisture control failures. He has done extensive training in building science, combining his considerable diagnostic field experience into his training experience. Mr. Cummings holds an MS degree in Applied Solar Energy.

Chuck Withers is a Senior Research Engineer at FSEC and a hands-on building scientist and accomplished researcher (18 published papers). He has performed field research in more than 300 buildings. He is fluent in the language of building diagnostics – blower doors, duct testers, pressure mapping, and air flow verification – because he has performed a full range of tests on a wide range of buildings. He has seen how buildings fail and knows how to communicate that knowledge. He has presented at more than 40 conferences, workshops, and courses, including Florida Energy Gauge, duct leak test method, IAQ Diagnostics, and commercial buildings uncontrolled air flow courses. He has a BS degree in Secondary Education Physics.

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Date	Location	Price
There are no upcoming offerings of this course.

Register online by clicking the above link or by phone by calling (321) 638-1422 and giving your credit card information.

Note: All payments are fully refundable if cancellation is received at least 7 business days before the class begins. FSEC reserves the right to cancel any course in the event of insufficient pre registration. In that event, all payments are fully refundable.