Heating load Calculations

Purpose of thermal load estimation

To estimate energy consumption

To determine the capacity of the HVAC equipment.
To estimate the operation cost of the building
To improve building energy performance during design phase
Cooling load vs heating load
Critical conditions for design
Outdoor design temperature
Inside design temperature
Heating load estimation
Infiltration, Exfiltration and Ventilation
Heating load
Rate of heat transfer
 Thermal resistance

• Thermal resistance of the material is its ability to resist the

flow of heat through it.
• High R-value means low heat transfer
• Low R-value means high heat transfer
 Thermal resistance of air film

• There is a thin still air film exists on each side of building

walls.
• They do have thermal resistance.
• Thermal resistance of air film depends on the orientation,
and air velocity on wall.
 Conductance

Conductance is the reciprocal of thermal resistance.

C=1/R

In terms of thermal conductivity

C=k/L
Overall thermal resistance
Overall heat transfer coefficient
U-values and energy standards
 Heat transfer losses
Basement walls and floors
Heat transfer through basement and walls can be estimated by
following equation

• Any part of the basement is above the ground, U values

from Table A.6 or A.7 are used.
• For the structure which is below the grade, the U values and
TD used will be different. This is due to the effect of the
surrounding ground on the thermal resistance and the heat
flow path.
 Heat transfer losses:
Floor over crawl space
Heat transfer losses:
Floor slab on grade
The degree day(DD) is a number that reflects the length and severity of a heating
season.
 Infiltration and ventilation heat loss

Sensible heat loss effect of Latent heat loss effect of

infiltration air infiltration air
 Methods for finding infiltration rate
1. Crack method

• Estimate the rate of air infiltration per foot of crack openings

 Corner room infiltration
If the room has two adjacent exposed walls (a corner room) with
door or window opening on both sides, we assume the
infiltration air comes through one side at any given time.

Door Usage
 Methods for finding infiltration rate
2. Air change method

• It is based on the number of air changes per hour in a room

• One air change is defined as being equal to the room air
volume
• Determination of the expected number of air changes is based
on experience and testing
• Suggested values range from 0.5 ACH to 1.5 ACH
 Ventilation (Outside Air) Load

• Outside air is heated before it enters the room so

it is the part of total building heating load but not
the heating load of individual room
• Mechanical ventilation (Air curtains) introduces
positive pressure which will reduce or prevent
infiltration.
 Room heat loss and room heating
load
It is the sum of the room heat transfer losses and
infiltration heat losses.
 Building net heating load

• The building net heating load is the amount of

heat required for the building at outdoor design
conditions
• The building net heating load is the sum of the
building heat transfer losses, infiltration losses
and ventilation load, if any.
Building heat transfer load
 Building infiltration loss

• Building infiltration will reduce and often prevented

by mechanical ventilation.
• For a building which is not mechanically ventilated,
the following rule is suggested.
• The building infiltration CFM is equal to one half the
sum of the infiltration CFM of every opening on all
sides of the building
 System heat losses
Duct heat transfer losses
2-5% of the building sensible heat loss be added to
account for duct heat loss

Duct leakage
5-10% of the building sensible heat loss be added to
account for duct heat loss

Piping losses
An extra 10% loss for intermittently heated
buildings, and up to 40% for a 10F night setback in
residential equipment.