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Comfort is different for every body. Some people like it hot. Some people like it cold. Some people don't mind a little dust in their home. But for the majority of us, we prefer to have a home that has properly controlled temperature, humidity, and air quality. Comfort is like a three-legged stool. It takes the heating & cooling equipment working in connection with your air duct system, and the shell of your house (sometimes called the thermal envelope) to provide a controllable indoor environment. If any one of these components fails, your family will not enjoy the comfort they deserve. Let's take a look at these three components in more detail. Heating & Cooling Equipment
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The exact sizing can be computed using the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) Residential Heat Load/Heat Gain Calculation method (Manual J). Once the size of your equipment has been determined, it must be attached to a properly designed and installed air duct system.
Air Duct System
The air duct system in your home is designed to carry air to each room in your house through a series of pipes and vents. The ducts that take air to each room are commonly called "supply ducts" because they supply air to the room. The ducts that bring air from the house back to the equipment are called "return air ducts" because they return air to the equipment to be heated or cooled. Your air duct system is designed to be a closed loop system. This means that all air that enters the return ducts is heated and/or cooled then supplied to the house, without any uncontrolled interaction with the air outside.
Unfortunately, most air duct systems have way too much leakage, which causes your heating & cooling equipment to function at less than peak performance. In fact, the US Department of Energy has found that the average homeowner's air duct system loses 25-40% of the heating & cooling energy put out by the central furnace or air conditioning system due to leaky air ducts. Having a leak in your air duct system is like having a leak in your veins or arteries. Leakage in duct systems can also cause excessive dust, mold, mildew and uncomfortable rooms if left unrepaired. You can have the best heating & cooling equipment available, but if it is connected to a leaky or improperly designed air duct system, your family will still suffer from an uncomfortable, unhealthy and inefficient home.
Thermal Envelope
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The thermal envelope of your home is like the skin on your body. It keeps the good things in and the bad things out. Your home's thermal envelope is made up of:
- Outside walls
- Windows
- Walls
- Ceiling
- Doors
Sometimes people refer to this as the shell of your home. If your house is not properly insulated, your heating & cooling system will have to work overtime to try to maintain the comfort in your home. Insulation helps prevent heat from escaping during the winter months and also helps keep heat out of your home in the summer months. However, insulation by itself does not solve the most significant problems associated with your home's thermal envelope. The number one problem in most homes is infiltration.
Infiltration is when conditioned air from inside your home is allowed to escape while unconditioned air from outside is allowed to come in. Think about it. How much insulation do you think there is in the wall of a jet airplane? The walls are only about as thick as a typical home, but the temperatures outside with the wind-chill can easily get to -400 degrees. So why don't we freeze in an airplane? The reason is there is no infiltration in the "skin" of the airplane.
When we have control of the environment, we can maintain a comfort level with a properly sized heating & cooling system. When we allow outside air to enter the home through uncontrolled infiltration, we cannot guarantee the safety, health, comfort and efficiency of your system.
In summary, all three components of your home must be addressed to ensure a comfortable indoor environment.
Call Controlled Climate at (770)432-3869 for our Metro Atlanta office or (229)838-4758 for our South Georgia office or e-mail us today!
