by High Performance HVAC | Technical Reference |
Air Conditioning and Heating HVAC Heat Energy Values - Heat is energy and when we produce heat we need to use energy in its production. There are natural methods for producing heat without burning or using fuels but these methods are not practical or available to the general populace for residential, commercial, and industrial use.
The production of heat, whether for residential, commercial, or industrial uses, uses energy, and energy costs money. It is thereby necessary to have reliable and proven methods of measuring the amount of heat produced using a specific quantity of energy. Employing these reliable and proven methods we can also use the data to determine the best methods of producing heat for homes, businesses, and industry. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Gas Furnaces |
Natural Gas Versus Propane | HVAC Heating Fuels - What is the best for you when choosing between either natural gas or propane? What is your heating system fuel supply? In some cases, you will not have a choice between the two. Having natural gas supplied to your home or business will require a natural gas pipeline near your home or business.
If there is a pipeline near your home and you do not have a meter, you can call the gas company. Most of the time, they will install the meter next to your home at no cost. However, it is always good to ask if they are going to charge you for installing a meter for use in your residence or business. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Gas Furnaces |
Gas Furnace AFUE Definition | HVAC Terminology. AFUE or Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency Heating systems consume approximately 35% to 50% of a typical home’s energy budget. Therefore the government has come up with a way to measure efficiency ratings of furnaces so they can set a standard for minimum efficiencies.
The definition of AFUE is – Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. AFUE is a rating that reflects how efficiently a gas furnace converts fuel to energy. A gas furnace with an AFUE of 95 means that approximately 95 percent of the fuel is utilized to provide warmth to your home, while the remaining 10 percent flows up the flue and into the atmosphere.
Therefore you are actually using 95% of the fuel you are paying for and the other 5% is being wasted up the flue vent.
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by High Performance HVAC | Commercial HVAC |
Rooftop Air Handler with Heat Recovery - This large rooftop air handling unit also has a heat recovery wheel integrated inside the AHU itself. The all-in-one AHU and heat recovery unit saves energy by recovering heat. The heat would otherwise be vented outside in the wintertime. Additionally, in the summer it removes heat from the air that is used for economizer and minimum outside air. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Commercial HVAC |
Chilled Water Storage Tank | Critical Facilities - Data centers use redundant systems for back-ups in case of an emergency. An HVAC chilled water storage tank adds an extra layer of redundancy to the process so if the chilled water plants crash the chilled water storage tank or tanks will provide a small cushion of time to allow the operating engineers time to straighten things out or in a worst-case scenario allow time for the servers in the data center to be transferred to another data center and shut down. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Commercial HVAC |
How Cooling Towers Work - Cooling towers use evaporation cooling to cool condenser water from a chiller. Water is pumped to the top of the cooling tower, where the water flows down some flow plates to the cooling tower basin. As the water is flowing down the flow plates air is pulled through the plates and over the water where it releases heat through evaporation. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Heat Pumps |
Have you ever wondered how Heat Pumps work? Heat Pumps can be a very economical way of heating and cooling your dwelling. It depends on geographical location and the cost of electricity in your area. The volatile costs of natural gas, propane, and oil have enabled these conditions. Conditions where it can be cheaper with a heat pump than with fossil fuels.
There is a common conception that a heat pump blows cold air.
While this can be true in some cases it is not true. If a heat pump is blowing cold air when in the heating mode then it has a problem. A problem that needs to be corrected. Even when the outside unit kicks into the defrost mode the unit should provide adequate heating.
Heating to heat the zones which it serves. Again, if it is not providing adequate heating then it needs to be looked at for a technical problem. A problem that needs correcting. A well-designed system, working properly and efficiently, can provide competitive and economical heating. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Heat Pumps |
Heat Pump Problems | HVAC Heating & Cooling - Heat Pumps are very popular especially in the South where air source heat pumps are mostly favored over straight air conditioners with a gas furnace for heating. 
With a heat pump, one system can provide heating and cooling. Some people rely on a geothermal heat pump system or a water source heat pump. A geothermal heat pump extracts heat from the ground instead of the air like an air source heat pump works. (more…)
by High Performance HVAC | Gas Furnaces |
Natural Gas Burners and Burner Tubes - These natural gas burners control the gas as it enters the gas burner tubes. The gas burner tubes have little holes which control the amount of gas that exits the top of the gas burner tubes. The black pipe running out of the gas valve is the manifold.
Where the gas burner tubes are connected to the manifold are little precisely drilled holes inside of brass inserts. The precisely drilled holes are engineered specifically for natural gas. The size of the holes plus the pressure in the manifold determines how much natural gas enters the gas burner tubes.
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by High Performance HVAC | Heat Pumps |
Geothermal heat pumps use groundwater or water circulated through pipes to exchange heat with the earth. Geothermal versus air-source heat pump systems use the earth’s natural temperature to exchange heat and provide heating and cooling. The temperature of the air varies widely with the weather. Whereas the temperature of the earth is nearly constant.
This makes the use of a geothermal system ideal for heating and cooling. It also costs less in energy use because of the constant earth temperature versus the widely varying temperature of the outside air. Consequently, geothermal systems make sense and can save lots of money in energy use.
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