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From YouTube: How to Build a Better Home - HVAC and Duct Work
Description
In this segment, green homebuilder Patty Shields talks about the HVAC and duct work that goes into a passive house for more efficient air flow. The segment is introduced by Arlington County AIRE Green Home Choice program manager Helen Reinecke-Wilt. http://freshaireva.us/2011/11/greenhomechoice/. Links to all nine segments can be found at http://environment.arlingtonva.us/energy/how-to-build-a-better-home/
A
Hello,
I'm
helen
Reineke
wilt
of
Arlington
County's
initiative
to
rethink
energy
and
green
home
choice
program
you're
about
to
watch
one
of
a
series
of
videos.
We
call
how
to
build
a
better
home,
the
story
of
the
construction
of
a
passive
house.
We
hope
you'll
find
some
useful
tips
about
making
your
home
greener
and
more
cost
efficient,
whether
you're
building
a
new
home
or
simply
upgrading
your
present
one.
Here's
green
home
builder,
patty
shields
of
Metro
green
with
today's
tips
on
HVAC
and
ductwork.
A
C
One
of
the
critical
issues
we've
talked
about
throughout
this
project
is
air.
Tightness,
old
houses
were
pretty
leaky.
New
houses
today
are
quite
airtight.
That
means
there's
no
cold
air
coming
in
in
the
wintertime
and
there
isn't
a
lot
of
hot
air
coming
in
in
the
summertime.
Part
of
that
process
is
making
sure
the
house
is
properly
taped
and
sealed.
In
this
case
it
also
includes
a
triple
glazed
windows
that
we've
talked
about
before
and
finally
for
this
house
we
have
a
very
very
advanced
energy
recovery,
ventilation
system
or
ERV.
C
That
brings
fresh
air
from
the
outside
exchanges
it
with
the
stale
air
from
the
inside
without
losing
the
heat
or
cool
of
the
air.
That's
already
inside
the
house,
you'll
see
a
vent
down
here,
and
that
is
an
outlet
vent.
There
is
an
inlet
vent
on
the
other
side
of
the
house.
You
don't
want
them
too
close
together
and
we'll
go
downstairs
and
show
you
the
completed
ERV
as
well.
C
The
erv
are
the
lungs
of
the
house.
What
we
want
to
do
is
get
rid
of
bad
air
in
the
house
and
make
sure
we're
bringing
in
good
air,
but
when
we
bring
in
good
air,
we
don't
want
it
to
be
the
same
temperature
as
it
is
outside
if
it's
20
degrees
outside,
we
don't
want
to
bring
in
20
degrees
of
air
into
the
house,
and
it
will
because
it
will
overload
our
heating
system
in
the
summer.
We
don't
want
to
bring
in
100-degree
air
into
the
house
because
it
will
overload
our
air
conditioning
system.
C
C
Above
me,
all
the
tubes
on
this
side
of
the
house
are
cooling,
air
from
rooms,
bathrooms
kitchens
mechanical
room,
the
room,
I'm
standing
in
right
now,
the
laundry
room,
all
the
rooms
that
would
have
humidity
and
would
also
have
smells
or
other
fumes
that
we
would
want
to
expel
from
the
house.
On
this
side.
There
are
tubes
going
out
these
tubes
supply
air
to
every
other
room
in
the
house.
These
rooms
are
the
bedrooms,
the
living
room,
the
dining
room,
the
TV
room,
so
24
hours
a
day
in
those
rooms.
C
When
we're
talking
about
heating
and
air-conditioning
systems
and
the
ductwork
you
put
in
a
house,
it's
really
really
important
that
those
the
ductwork
is
sealed.
In
anyhow,
it's
important,
especially
in
a
lot
of
homes
where
you
have
ductwork,
maybe
up
in
the
ceiling
in
an
unconditioned
attic
or
in
a
crawlspace
below
a
house
that
is
really
critical.
It's
also
critical
that
it
that's
insulated
in
a
house
like
this,
the
entirety
of
our
HVAC,
our
mechanical
system.
C
Our
air
conditioning
system
is
in
the
envelope
of
the
house,
so
none
of
that
air
is
getting
out
of
the
house,
but
we
also
don't
want
the
air
to
get
lost
up
in
the
ceiling.
We
want
to
make
sure
that
air
that
leaves
the
the
air
handler
actually
makes
it
to
the
room
with
the
amount
of
force
that
we
want
it
to,
so
that
rooms
get
conditioned
the
way
we
want
them
to.
C
So
with
this
in
this
house,
what
we've
done
is
we've
made
sure
that
we
put
mastic,
which
is
this
glue
type
substance
like
a
paste
to
make
sure
that
all
of
our
ducts
are
completely
sealed.
All
of
these
ducts
have
been
pressure
tested,
and
in
this
case
they
have
less
than
3%
leakage,
which
is
extraordinarily
low.
C
So
we've
talked
a
lot
about
the
actual
details
of
the
installation,
the
sealing
of
it
where
things
are
placed
and,
of
course,
erv.
Let's
talk
a
little
bit
about
the
overall
system.
This
is
a
fairly
large
house,
and
so
we
have
a
split
system,
meaning
there's
one
system
serving
the
top
floor
and
then
one
system
serving
the
basement
of
the
first
floor.
It's
a
standard
heat
pump
system,
there's
no
furnace
in
this
house.
C
This
is
a
variable
refrigerant
system,
which
means
that
it
cycles
in
such
a
way
that
it
saves
energy
that
in
the
wintertime
I,
if
it
only
needs
10%
of
the
system
to
be
running
only
10%
of
its
running
instead
of
turning
it
on
and
you
have
a
two
cycle
where
it's
running
at
40
or
100
percent.
This
one
can
run
all
the
way
down
to
10%.
So
that
saves
quite
a
bit
of
energy
for
the
homeowners.