Typical HVAC Rules of Thumb

General Information
Air Movement 6 ACH

1 CFM/ft2

Ventilation Rate 5 CFM/person

Fan Energy 1000-1500 CFM/hp

Electric Motors .8-.85 kW/hp

Lighting 2-4 watts/ft2

Chiller Size 300-400 ft2/ton

Ton 12,000 BTU/ton

Chilled Water 2.4 GPM/ton (10 rise)

Condenser Water 3 GPM/ton (10 rise)

Chiller Input .7-.8 kW/ton

Chillers & Pumps & Towers .9-1.0 kW/ton

Absorbers 18 lbs steam/ton

Boiler Horsepower 33,479 BTU/hr = 9.8 kW

Rebuilt Systems Design 55F supply air

30-40 rise reheat coils

Dual Duct & Multizone Design 55 cold deck

70-105 hot deck with ODA Reset Schedule

VAV 55F cooling

10% box leakage flow

40-50% minimum fan volume

People Load 450 BTU/person/hr

People Density Office 140 ft2/person

Theater 14 ft2/person

Heat Transmission See ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals

Glass 1 BTU/ft2/F

Good Wall 0.1 BTU/ft2/F

Masonry Wall 0.15-0.3 BTU/ft2/F

 Thin Poor Wall 0.25-0.5 BTU/ft2/F

Overall Building 0.15-0.5 BTU/ft2/F

Infiltration 0.5-1.5 ACH without Building Pressurization

Chiller Efficiencies
EER COP kW/ton

Air-cooled
(including condenser power > 150 tons)

ASHRAE Standard 90.1 1999 9.6 2.8 1.26

Good 9.9 2.9 1.21

Best 10.6 3.1 1.13

Water-cooled
(>300 ton centrifugal compressor)

ASHRAE Standard 90.1 1999 16.7 4.9 0.72

Good 18.5 5.4 0.65

Best 26.7 7.8 0.45