Temperature, humidity, and heat requirements in three houses, Dartmouth, N.S. 1962-63

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Temperature, humidity, and heat requirements in three houses,

Dartmouth, N.S. 1962-63

C A N A D A

I

I

T E M P E R A T U R E , H U M I D I T Y , AND

H E A T

REQUIREMENTS

IN

_{THREE HOUSES, DARTMOUTH,}

_N.S.

_2962-63

Ser TH1 B92 no. 51 BUILDING RESEARCH

-

LlBPfiFIY

-

MAR

28

1966

MRTIUHAL XESFAaCH COUKCIL

- - @ J a n u a r y 1 9 6 6 ,-? I7 ;+. *>: -3 7 -

-

-

-

O F B U I L D I N G R E S E A R C H

.

N A T I O N A L R E S E A R C H C O U N C I L

.

O T T A W A

.

C A H A D A

TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, AND HEAT REQUIREMENTS

I

N

_{THREE HOUSES, DARTMOUTH, N . S . 1 9 6 2 - 6 3}

During the winter of 1962-63, the Atlantic Regional

Station of the Division of Building Research, in co-operation with

a builder and local utilities, undertook a study of temperature,

humidity and heat requirements in three butrgaIows with the s a m e

floor area in a subdivision at Dartmouth, N. S . Although three

houses a r e an insufficient number on which to b a s e valid c ~ n c l u s i o n s

with regard to heating c o s t s , it was thought that t h e studies would make a contribution towards a better understanding of the variables

to be considered if a l a r g e r study w e r e undertaken.

The houses involved in this study w e r e as follows:

H o u s e No. 1 ( F i g u r e 1) is built o n a crawl space and heated with

a f o r c e d w a r m - a i r oil-fired furnace and a crawL space plexturn system. The house w a s i n s u l a t e d with

6

in. of insulation over the ceiling,

3 518 in. in the walls, and 2 in. o n the w a l l s of the crawl space. I t

w a s occupied by two adults and two children.

H o u s e No. 2 ( F i g u r e 2 ) , although having the same floor a r e a as houses Nos. 1 and 3, f s built on a concrete floor slab and heated

w i t h e l e c t r i c baseboard convectors controlled by individual r o o m thermostats. The house was insulated w i t h 6 in. of insulation over the ceiling, 3 5 / 8 in. in the w a l l s , and 2 in. at the p e r i m e t e r of the f l o o r slab between i t and t h e foundation wall (a detailed diagram of the edge insulation is given in Figure 4). This house was occupied

by a male employee of the builder and used as a demonstration

haus e during the twelve-month instrumentation period. This man l i v e d in the house five to five and one-half days each week.

House No. 3 ( F i g u r e 3) is identical to house No. 1 except for

the insulation. In this house, only 3 in. of insulation was u s e d over the ceiling and 3 in. i n the walls with 2 in. on the crawl space walls. It w a s occupied by two adults and one child.

A l l t h r e e houses are on the s a m e street and face in the s a m e direction. H o u s e s

Nos.

1 and 2 a r e o n adjoining lots and house No. 3 is separated f r o m house No. 2 by two houses.

Continuous r e c o r d s of indoor air temperature and

humidity w e r e attained by means of a hygrotherrnograph in each

house (Figure 5). Instrument charts w e r e changed weekly and calibration w a s carried out monthly using a battery-powered psychrometer.

Daily outdoor weather d a t a were obtained f r o m monthly records f o r Halifax published by the Meteorological. Branch of the Department o f Transport.

R e c o r d s of electrical consumption in each house w e r e

obtained by separate metering of the electric range, electric water

heater, electric space heating, and electricity used by the oil furnace. All of these watt-hour meters w e r e read weekly and the readings

r e c o r d e d .

Houss of fan and oil burner operation w e r e obtained f r o m t'totalizers'l connected a c r o s s the burner and fan motor l e a d s

to total the hours of "'on" time. The totalizers w e r e read weekly. Quantities of fuel used in houses Nos. 1 and 3 w e r e

obtained from the homeowners' fuel delivery s l i p s .

The average weekly i n s i d e air temperature, average

weekly inside-outside air temperature difference, average weekly

relative humidity, and humidity ratio for each house can be shown

f r o m the data collected. These values have been derived from daily r e c o r d s and a r e shown graphically in Figures

6,

7 , and 8.

For purposes of cornpayison, monthly averages of indoor

temperature and relative humidity for all houses are shown in Figure 9 . F r o m the records of fuel u s e d , hours of burner and fan

operation (houses Nos. 1 and 3 ) and kwh used far heating in house

NO.

2,

Figures 1 0 , 1 1 , and 12 have been d r a w n based on w e e k l y totals. In

addition, the weekly degree days from the weather records have been included.

A s u m m a r y of data for the three houses I s included in Table I. The monthly use of electrical energy in house No. 2 is detailed

in

_{Table I I , and a d i r e c t cost comparison is made in Table}

OBSERVATIONS

A sample of three houses is too small to be considered

representative with respect to fuel requirements for heating. _h an earlier study of eleven ail-heated houses i t was found. that very little correlation e x i s t e d . It is, therefore, not possible to make any f i r m conclusion as to the comparative casts of heating although

some observations of g e n e r a l interest can be made.

( l ) F r o m records obtained i t is evident that all three houses main-

tained a year-round average indoor temperature of 72°F. There appeared to be less weekly variation in the temperature in house No, 2

than in hoases Nos. 1 or 3.

(23 T h e relative humidity maintained appears to be similar in all three houses. Previous r e c o r d s f r o m other houses in this area would indicate that this is the range to be expected in this s i z e of

hous e,

An

expected incr e a s e in the relative humidity of house No. 2

d i d not materialize. This could be due to the t y p e of occupancy in this house. A review of records f r o m other electrically heated

houses of a similar size b u t with normal occupancy indicated a higher

indoor relative humidity over the same period.

( 3 ) The records of fuel u s e d , whether electricity or oil, must be considered inconcZusive as only three houses are involved. Pna

study carried out a year earlier involving eleven houses, the heating c o s t s varied over a w i d e range even among houses of similar size

and occupancy, T o determine the cost of heating these three houses

(although not representative of all houses of this s i z e ) , some part of the cost of electrical e n e r g y must be k c l u d e d with the cost of fuel

o i l in houses N O S . 1 and 3 .

In

_{Table I I I a cost comparison has been}

calculated, based on the total electrical energy and total fuel oil used.

1& is commonly assumed that only half of the electrical energy u s e d

to heat the domestic water is lost to the dwelling as heat. The second

line of Table 111 takes this into account in that half the c o s t of heating the water in each house is deducted from the total cost. The amount of electricity u s e d t o heat water varies from house to house and does

not relate directly t o the gallons of hot water used, so the allowance

f o r heat f r o m this source varies. In estimating the cost of heating,

no allowance has been m a d e for the variation in the number of occupants

or in the _{l i v i n g habits of the occupants. If a correct allowance could}

be made, the final figures f o r cost of heating would vary in relation

This limited study demonstrates the need for including a large number of houses if the results are to have any significance with regard to operating c o s t s . It has also helped in determining the necessary ins trumentation, the type of information required

and the areas of investigation that should be included

i f

a study is conducted with a larger group of houaes. It also points out the

many variables to be considered and the need for daily observations. The writer appreciates this opportunity to supplement infor mation previously collected in this area concerning indoor

temperature and relative humidity, The co-operation of the Commodore

C o . , the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company Ltd., the Public

Service Commis eion, and the Nova Scotia Department af Mines is

also appreciated. It is unfortunate that the small size of the sample and other variables do not permit a valid cost comparison ta be made

TABLE

I

SUMMARY

OF

DATA

-

DARTMOUTH

HOUSES

r

No.

1 2 3 ' 4 5 6 7

8

9 10 1 1 12 13 14

15

16 2 7 1 8 19 Item Calculated heat l o s s

-

E ~ U / ~ P

Floor area

-

square feet

D e g r e e days for period

Total electricity used

-

kwh

Total fuel o i l used

-

Imp, GaL

h u a l c o s t of fuel oil, ( 3 1 7 . 2 b a g a l o n

Average combus tion efficiency,

yn

Fuel

oil t o heat ( # 5 x

$6)

-

Imp. Gal

E l e c t r i c a l use

-

space heating, kwh

Electrical use

-

cooking; kwh

Electrical u s e

-

w a t e r heating; kwh

Electrical u s e

-

miscellaneous,

kwh

Electrical u s e exclusive of heating, kwh

Total hours burner operation,

hr

Total hours fan operation, h r

K w h [heating)lgal

fuel

oil

~ w h / ' d a ~

-

heating only

~ w h / " d a ~ / s ~

f t floor area G a l ~ i l / ~ d a ~ / s ~ f t f l o o r area H o u s e No. 1 32,340 950 7288 12, 590 89 5 $1 54.00 7 0 6 2 6 1 , 2 6 5 7 47 6 , 6 7 7 3 , 8 8 1 1 1 , 3 2 5 1 , 7 7 8 3 , 9 9 4 1.42

-

-

I 3 , O x

l o m 5

Data Surnrnary House No. 2 2 3 , 2 7 7 950 7288

25,360

-

-

-

-

22, 6 6 0 1 80 1 , 4 3 6 1,084 2,760

-

-

-

3.10 5 . 2 8 ~ l o m 3

-

H o u s e

No.

3 3 5 , 6 5 5

9

50 7288 7054

919

$157.00 78

716

8 2 3 1,296 3, 3 5 7 1, 574 6,227

1,796

2 , 2 6 7 0 . 9 1

-

-

1 3 . 3 x

l o m 5

h

TABLE 111

SUMMARY

OF

HEATING

COSTS

House No. 1 House

No.

2 Hous e No. 3

Total c o s t of heating and

electrical energy $361.80 $ 3 6 6 . 2 0 $291.30

Deduct cost of heating water 53.10 10. 84 31. 87

Net: cast of heating $308.70 $355.36 $259.43

The above c o s t s are based on a price of 17. 2 cents per gallon for fuel oil and on the Nova Scotia Light

and

Power rate No. 0 2 for electrical

energy ($1. 50 per month plus 2-$# f o r first 200 kwh per month plus

1.

2b

all additional

-

average not t o be less than

1.4#

per kwh

-

billing period

two months). T o arrive at the electrical cost it was necessary to u s e the consumption of electrical energy for each two-month period and apply the

FLOOR PLAk

F i g u r e 2 House # 2

-

Dartmouth

-

Electric Heating h I 1 _U

-

I I CPUS

8

2 /

1 3

BFDROOM BEDROOM

2

_*

-

-

-

Ci 0s

4

2

2

4

3 HAL S

'

BATHROOM

-

_n

v

I

-

C X i TCHEN

-

L ! VING ROOM

I

I i I FLOUR PLAN 1

-

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5 C d C E r.4' FE&T

FLOOR _PLAfl

/

bw

TTHRMAL BREAK

F I G U R E

4

E D G E

1 N S U L A T T O N

D E T A I L

D.B.R.

LOCATION-

OARmPUTH

N. S.

BUILDING

HOUSE

"

I

0.B.R.

INDOOR CLIMATE

OF

BUILDINGS

N.

R.

C.

LOCATION

DARTMOUTH

.

N.

S.

BUILDING

HOUSE

#

2

*

DEC JAN

FEB

MAR APR @ MAY 0 JUNE* JULY

*

AUG

.

SEPT OCT NOV

INSIDE A!R TEMP, O F INSIDE - OUTSIDE A I R TEMP DIFFERENCE, O F - N W A y l m * m 0 0 c ? n 0 0 0 0 0 ,RELATIVE HUMIDITY, PER CENT - w w h C * l m s l O O O O O O O O

HUMIDITY RATIO IN GRAINS OF

M O I S T U R E PER LB OF DRY AIR

-

-

HOUSE E

6 8 2 0

HOUSE 3

6 8

DEC J F M A M JUNE J A S 0 H QEC

MONTtllY

-

AVERAGE INDOOR TEMPERATURE

'IOr HOUSE 1 7 7 0 70- _{HOUSE 3} 60 % R H 40 4 0 O/O R H 30 2u 2 0

DEC J F M A M JUNE J A S 0 H DEC

MONTHLY

-

AVERAGE

INDOOR

RELATIVE HUMIDITY

FIGURE

9

MO'NTHLY

AVERAGE

-

INDOOR TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE

HUMIDITY

DARTMOUTH

N

S

L O C A T I O N - . .- BUILDING

HOUSE

#

I

DEC JAN * FEB MAR * APR MAY *JUNE JULY A U G SEPT OCT NOV

1962 r 9 ~ 3

LOCATION

DARTMOUTH

----..---.

N..S.

BUllokNC

HOUSE

#

2

500 40 0 300 200 100 6

DEC

*

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE * JULY

*

AUG SEPT* O C T 9 NOV