[Equest-users] ERV in Ottawa

[Mark Darrall]

Could it be added fan power due to higher pressure drops across the wheel and added ductwork? We've been warned this might happen.

Good luck!

MARK DARRALL, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, NCARB
Project Manager


       
DESIGN ENRICHING LIFE // LIFE ENRICHING DESIGN

A2SO4 Architecture, LLC
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Indianapolis, Indiana 46225
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-----Original Message-----
From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Daniel Knapp
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 12:56 PM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] ERV in Ottawa

Hello,

I've been trying to understand how ERV works because I am finding the energy savings to be somewhat less than I had expected.  Ottawa has a very cold climate in the winter and a warm, humid climate in the summer and I would expect enthalpy wheels to be a very good energy saving strategy.  Instead, I am finding that in many cases the building uses more energy and in the best case scenario (OA exhaust DH, mixed air reset, modulate HX) on a VAV system saves only 0.15%.  I have built a simple box model with one system in a two-storey office building and tried a number of different control strategies (see attached tables for results).  I have tried a VAV and a SZ system.  The ERV is able to save marginally more energy in the SZ system, but in neither case are the results what I was expecting.

My question is this:  are these results to be taken at face value and believed or is there a better way to model ERVs in a Canadian climate?  It seems very unlikely to me that ERVs cannot be controlled in such a way as to save significant energy in a climate of extremes.  (.inp file attached as well).  

With thanks and best wishes,
Dan

 
-
Daniel Knapp, PhD, LEED® AP O+M
danielk at arborus.ca

Arborus Consulting
Energy Strategies for the Built Environment www.arborus.ca
76 Chamberlain Avenue
Ottawa, ON, K1S 1V9
Phone: (613) 234-7178 ext. 113
Fax: (613) 234-0740