Humidity Implications for Meeting

Residential Ventilation
Requirements

Max H. Sherman
LBNL
 Myths and Ghost-stories

• Oversized A/C is bad

– E.g. short-cycling hurts humidity control
• ERVs can dehumidify
• Moisture is a contaminant
• Humidity can be controlled by a thermostat

• Ventilation standards are for moisture

Question: Could complying with

ASHRAE 62.2 lead to moisture

problems?

Answer: Typically NO

Why not?

– In humid climates, high (>70% RH) indoor humidity occurs when

ambient temperatures are low (less than 65F), air conditioning
is off – shoulder seasons – ventilation air is not high humidity for
these outdoor conditions
– In summer AC operation leads to humidity controlled to 50% to
60% RH maximums
 ASHRAE 62.2

• 62.2 requires same mechanical ventilation

independent of climate
• 62.2 increases ventilation rates for homes with
tighter envelopes (compared to just infiltration)
• Typically 50 to 75 cfm for a new home
• Additional kitchen and bath fans for source
control
How does this affect moisture?  Lets
“do the math”
 Overview

• Combined ventilation, heat and moisture

calculations
• Minute-by-minute for a year
• Auto heat/cool
• Six climates: Houston, Phoenix, Charlotte,
Minneapolis, Seattle and Kansas City
• Output: Energy use & indoor conditions
Ventilation
Mass balance
Multi zone: house,
attic, supply &
return ducts
Local and distributed
envelope, attic and
duct leaks
Mechanical ventilation
Forced air system
operation
Many air flow paths
one unknown (indoor
pressure)
determined iteratively
 Heat Transfer

Energy balance combining conduction,

radiation, air flows, heating and
cooling equipment, ventilation fan
motors in air stream, internal and
solar gains
Multi path: house, attic, supply & return
ducts
• Duct insulation, roof materials,
envelope insulation
Equipment models:
• Furnace – constant heat
• A/C – capacity and SHR depend on
indoor and outdoor temperature and
humidity (charge and air flow), dry
coil/wet coil
16 unknown temperatures & 16 heat
balance equations solved
simultaneously
 Moisture

– Mass balance for indoor air, attic air, supply air and
return air.
– Duct leakage
– Storage/exchange with indoor materials
– Track coil moisture
• Dry coil takes time (about 3 minutes) to wet and remove
moisture
• End of cycle/central fan operation w/o A/C re-evaporation

–Internal Sources
 Internal Moisture Sources

• Occupant related only – no foundation drying or hydroponics…

• Cooking and washing moisture removed at source (as required by
62.2) – 8.8 lb./day (NIST)
– CBD – 17 lb./day + 2 lb. On a washday
– NRCan – 2.75 lb./day/person + 5.3 lb./day (16.3 lb./day)
– CBD 231 – 9.5 lb./day/person (38 lb./day)
– ASHRAE Humidity design guide – 5.25 lb./day/person (21 lb./day)
– ORNL – 12 lb./day/family + 13.7 lb./day (25.7 lb/day)
– ASTM Manual 18: 14 to 15 lb.day
– FSEC – 0.4 lb./hour + 0.4 lb./hour in evening (10.8 lb/day)
– ASHRAE Std 160 – 30.4 lb./day/family
• Use ASHRAE Std160 values and subtract cooking and washing and
assume 2/3 occupancy: 14.4 lb./day for four people
• Constant generation
 Dehumidification
Laboratory and manufacturers data relates Sensible Heat
Ratio (SHR) to humidity ratio (hr):

SHR  1  50hr  0.005

1.2
76 F
1 78 F
80 F
0.8
SHR

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Indoor RH
 Coil Model

• Track mass of moisture on coil

• Linear increase in latent capacity over first three
minutes of operation
• Mass condensed on coil:

1  SHR Q
total
mcond 
q
latent

Qtotal= total system capacity

qlatent= latent heat of condensation
 Coil Model

• No moisture removal until coil saturated

• Coil capacity mlimit = 0.66 lb./rated ton

• After coil saturation moisture transported
to coil leaves system
• Fan only – coil moisture re-evaporated
(takes 30 minutes to dry):
mlim it  ratedtons
mevap 
1800s
 Internal Moisture Storage

• Storage capacity = 12.3 lb./ft2 floor area

• Mass transport coefficient = 0.0006 lb./ft2
• Gives same variation as field data
(BSC/Henderson) ~ 10% RH diurnal swing
• Damping in indoor air variability similar to
EPAs Indoor Humidity Assessment tool
that assumes 5 to 10% moisture to air and
90% to 95% to contents
TMY Weather
 House Info

• 1000 ft2 1 story 1bath, 2000ft2 two story two bath and 4000 ft2 two
story three bath
• ICC 2005 envelope
• Windows 18% of floor area evenly NSEW
• Envelope has NL=0.3 about 5.8 ACH50
• 3% supply & 2% return duct leakage for attic ducts (Houston,
Phoenix, Charlotte and Seattle)
• 1.5% supply and 1% return duct leakage for basement ducts in
Kansas City and Minneapolis
• EER 11/SEER 13 AC
• 78% AFUE gas furnace
• Heating: 70F 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., 68F rest of the time
• Cooling: 78F 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 76F rest of the time (76 constant at
weekends)
• 1F deadband for thermostat
 Ventilation Systems
• No mechanical ventilation
• Leaky Envelope – leaky enough to meet 62.2

• Continuous exhaust power from HVI directory

• H/ERV power from HVI directory

– Three times 62.2 rate for 1/3 time
• Source control:
– Each bathroom 50 cfm (55W) 7:30 to 8 a.m.
– Kitchen 100cfm (99 W) 5 to 6 p.m.
• Central fan operation for mixing/distribution
minimum 10 minutes per hour
 Annual Average Ventilation (ACH)

No Mech. Leaky Cont. H/ERV

Vent House Ex.

Houston 0.18 0.28 0.29 0.38

Phoenix 0.18 0.31 0.30 0.39
Charlotte 0.20 0.34 0.29 0.39
KC 0.24 0.39 0.32 0.43
Seattle 0.24 0.38 0.30 0.43
Minneapolis 0.29 0.42 0.36 0.47

Continuous Exhaust adds about 0.1 ACH

H/ERV adds about 0.2 ACH
House Size Effect on Ventilation
• Continuous exhaust
• Large house = 10% less ACH
• Small House = 25% more ACH
 Humidity Results
• RH binned every 1% RH
• Mean humidity not interesting unless
mean is very high (over 60%)
• Frequency of high humidity extremes
• Extremes: number of hours above 60% &
70%
• Duration of extreme events
 600

Phoenix 62.2 decreases mean RH

Winter effect
500

Standard House
400
Leaky House
Number of Hours

Continuous Exhaust
HRV
300

200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
 600

Minneapolis 62.2 no effect

500
Wide range of weather leads to wide RH range
Standard House
400 Leaky House
Number of Hours

Continuous Exhaust
HRV
300

200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
 600

Houston 62.2 vent increases mean RH

500

Standard House
400
Leaky House
Number of Hours

Continuous Exhaust
ERV
300

ERV has no significant effect 62.2 small effect

On elevated RH
200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
 Low outdoor humidity:
62.2 reduces RH
600
Seattle is dry
Seattle
500

Standard House
400 Leaky House
Number of Hours

Continuous Exhaust
HRV
300

200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
 600
Charlotte 62.2 no effect at higher RH
62.2 lower average humidities
500

Standard House
400 Leaky House
Number of Hours

Continuous Exhaust
ERV
300

200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
 600
Kansas City
500

Standard House
Leaky House
400
WINTER Continuous Exhaust
Number of Hours

SUMMER HRV

300

200

100

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Relative Humidity
Humid climate – higher RH
ERV not effective
Dry climate – lower RH with increased ventilation
Standard Leaky Continuous ERV/HRV
House House Exhaust
Above 60% RH
Houston 2659 2542 3266 3076
Phoenix 128 40 53 27
Charlotte 1496 1561 1619 1592
Kansas City 1499 1506 1653 1626
Seattle 1532 728 915 529
Minneapolis 1138 1120 1167 988
Above 70% RH
Houston 797 624 758 614
Phoenix 3 0 0 0
Charlotte 338 287 312 262
Kansas City 222 224 240 168
Seattle 195 57 68 15
Minneapolis 258 226 219 155
 Houston – Worst Case

• High humidity events are short duration:

– Longest over 70% RH: 46 hours

– Longest over 80% RH: 14 hours
• Summer humidity 50% to 60%
• High humidity in shoulder seasons when
no AC operation:
– Hours over 70% - outdoor temperature was
16.5C (62F)
 Houston – Continuous Ex.

100 110

90
Indoor RH 90
80

70
70

Temperature, C
Indoor RH (%)

60

50 50
Indoor Temp
40
30
30

20
10
10 Outdoor Temp
0 -10
1 21 42 63 84 105 126 146 167 188 209 230 251 271 292 313 334 355
Day of Year
 Effect of Blower Operation for

Mixing/Distribution

• Median humidity increased by 2%

• No significant change to high humidity
events
– High humidity NOT during AC operation so no
moisture to re-evaporate to contribute to high
humidity events
 Effect of House Size

• Occupant density
– Larger house lower density
– Lower density  lower moisture generation per unit
volume  lower humidity
• Large house in Houston:
– 62.2 leads to increased hours above 70% RH (from
267 to 405 hours) because large house has low
indoor humidity
• Small house in Houston:
– 62.2 leads to reduced hours above 70% (from 1937
hours to 1404 hours) because small house has higher
indoor humidity such that it is more humidity than
outdoors
 Conclusions

• In most climates 62.2 has small effects

– generally reducing high humidity events
• In a humid climate 62.2 increased median humidity by 5 to 10%
BUT decreased high humidity (above 70% RH) events
• ERV does not change indoor humidity in hot, humid
• Operation of forced air system for mixing/distribution did not
lead to increased high humidity events
• House size/occupant density matters
• Caveats:
1. Indoor generation is key – unfortunately the thing we know best is that
the range is wide and generally unknown for a specific house
2. 62.2 ventilation can increase (for larger houses/lower densities) or
decrease (for smaller houses/higher density) humidity
 Looking Forward
• Lower Sensible Loads, but not Latent

– Humidity Control/design will be needed

– New technologies?
• Figure out internal latent loads
– Need measurements to resolve
• Evaluate/develop strategies
– Simulations then field tests
– Change to protocols/standards.
 Myths and Ghost-stories
• In hot, humid climates…..
– Oversized A/C is bad
• E.g. short-cyling hurts humidity control
– ERVs can dehumidify
– Moisture is a contaminant
– Humidity can be controlled by a thermostat
– Exhaust is bad