we’re finishing our basement here and were told by the planning dept. to get an energy cal. for determining the amount of heat required.
they said figure the sf of the floor, walls and windows. that’s easy but then where does on go? we’re looking at a couple of options baseboard or a free standing wood stove.
the basement is roughly 1000 sf and walls 1080 sf and double pane windows 80 sf
thanks
Replies
knockhard,
I am not sure what your planning dept wants. Maybe a Manual J or maybe Rescheck. Goggle both.
KK
Edited 4/2/2009 10:16 pm by coonass
all they want to know is the design-loss
your building code defines the low design temp
btu/h = area x delta T / u
u = 1/r
you have a loss thru the walls, windows and floor... no loss thru the ceiling
the heat source has to match or exceed the design loss
Uh ... I think that is wrong ... the design heat load calc is:
sum of the U-val X area X delta T = BTUH
delta T mean Interior design temp (e.g. 70 degF) minus the outside design temp (e.g. 4 degF or whatever is right for your climate/location). Sum this value for each component (i.e. windows, walls).
You don't divide by U-value.
For below grade walls, you might assume a delta T of Interior temp minus say 50 degF (constant ground temp).
Edited 4/3/2009 3:13 am ET by Clewless1
Edited 4/3/2009 3:14 am ET by Clewless1
Edited 4/3/2009 3:15 am ET by Clewless1
Edited 4/3/2009 3:16 am ET by Clewless1
you know... doing that from memory... i said...
hmmmm.?..
oh well.. some clewless guy will be along to straighten this mess out sooner than later...thank you , brothernow... what's with all the edits ?Mike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
edits? what edits? ;)
Just clueless me ... not reading, correcting myself, yadda yadda. It was late. Need to think more before I type ... hey stuff happens, yaknow?
If you want, when you do your edits, you can remove the auto text from any pervious edits...
Didnt' know that. I often feel like Oz ... I use it, but don't know how it works!
They are looking for a heat loss calc used to properly size the heating/cooling unit to the space. I've always relied on my supplier to do mine, but there are online resources like:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/Calculators/HeatLoss/HeatLoss.htm
Don't know if your inspector will accept this sort of thing, but it should at least get you in the ballpark.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
BTW ... what is your location? Maybe I could knock out a quick calc for you to look at if you haven't got it yet and don't want to wade through the learning curve for your simple situation.
thanks for all the replies.were 'hardiness zone' 8 for plants if that at all helps for the portland, or areaat one point the guy in planning told me i need to have it 68 degrees 3 feet off the floor. edit: i looked at that link and all the formulas given here; whew, it's complex;
Edited 4/3/2009 9:28 am ET by hardluckknocks
Do you do manual J calcs? I've got have one, and i 've gotten prices from 17-25¢ sq'. What's involved?http://www.tvwsolar.com
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I use old fashioned simple ASHRAE calcs ... which is essentially "manual J" I think. For simple calcs, I just set up a simple spreadsheet and do it. I don't do a lot of real detailed stuff ... I'm usually doing 'high level' checks to see if something appears to be oversized or not. Rarely do duct sizing or anything like that. You got prices of 17-25 for what?