Engineering House Heat Passes Through Attic

An article titled powered attic ventilators unplanned impacts on houses published in 1996 by john tooley and bruce davis drew the conclusion that powered ventilators should not be used.

Engineering house heat passes through attic.

A 5 m long section of an air heating system of a house passes through an unheated space in the basement see figure above. All of these loads added up per hour forms the basis for the heat gain calculation. Heat that flows through layers of an assembly and heat that flows through different paths of the assembly. Attic insulation can come in a number of forms such as loose fill or blanket insulation.

Although the attic pull down stairs account for only 1 of the total area the rate heat passes through the stairs is 38 times the rate it passes through the rest of the ceiling. In fact the u s. The higher that number the better the insulation is at blocking heat. Allison bailes aka the energy vanguard explains the difference between series and parallel heat flow.

There is a difference for surfaces that. Taking advantage of this natural process referred to as passive ventilation is the most common way to vent an. Improving your home s attic insulation is one of the best ways to increase overall efficiency. 0 018 specific heat of air factor btus per cubic foot per degree f temp difference outside to inside sensible.

Hot air enters the duct at 100 kpa and 60 c at an average velocity of 5 m s. Small holes and framing members make a difference when calculating the heat flow through building assemblies like walls floors and roofs. Once the attic fan turns on it will draw outside air through attic vents but also cool conditioned air directly from the house through air leaks and recessed electrical lights. Its heat blocking value is measured in what is known as its r value.

As much as 85 percent of the heat lost in a house passes through the attic. If you go the diy route be careful when handling fiberglass insulation. Therefore it s like having 380 sf of uninsulated ceiling when 10 sf of attic stair is not insulated. Hot air exhaust vents located at the peak of the roof allow hot air to escape.

Solar gain through building envelope is estimated the same way that it is for heat loss. Once the solar radiation is absorbed some of the heat still gets ejected to the outside but much of it conducts downward through the roofing materials and roof deck. A radiant barrier is not intended to reflect the heat source it is a barrier a low emitter and it does not allow the heat to pass through it. Start by examining the insulation that is already in your attic.

Heat loss from heating ducts in a basement. There it radiates down into the attic heating up the insulation the framing the ductwork and the boxes of christmas tree ornaments.