Energy and Sustainability

Thermal insight

Early last Friday morning, Nick Marcyan of Interface Engineering , visited the Manley residence with a Fleer Thermal Imaging Camera to provide this architect with some additional insight and education on heat loss and the benefits of thermal insulation and infiltration control.

 A rainy Friday morning, Nick unpacked the camera, and gave a brief, rain-free demonstration inside the house. Warm air curling out of a floor diffuser looks like flames in a fireplace. The insulating value of a standard poodles’ curly coat is impressive – our dog, Pepper, appeared royal blue as he walked through the cameras’ field of vision. The Fleer camera allowed Nick to pin-point surface temperatures within the image, and records the full range of temperatures in the image from low to high – lowest being dark blues and highest being bright reds.

Outside, under a light but steady rain, we began a walk-around. Outside air temperature was about 40 degrees. The thermal image results were telling. My prime concern was infiltration points from the basement and from aging double-hung windows at the older, un-remodeled areas of the house.

The first image that provided a surprise was of the building’s west wall at the kitchen/dining room area. During a remodel several years ago, a space that was originally a bedroom was remodeled into the kitchen. The existing lath and plaster in that room was stripped for access to studs for installation of new plumbing and electrical. The 4” nom studs at the kitchen exterior wall were insulated with R-19C batt. Adjacent spaces remained un-insulated. The Fleer image clearly shows the line between the insulated kitchen and the un-insulated dining room – a source of heat loss that won’t be corrected any time soon.

Nick, raising the camera to trace the line of the eaves and roof, surprised me with the assessment that my ceiling insulation, 12” of loose fill, was sound with no significant heat loss sources showing. Windows in the remodeled or added areas of the house are 14 year old Insulate Industries vinyl sash, insulated double hung, casement and awning windows (recently purchased by CertainTeed). This glass showed good retention of insulating qualities. Thermal images of these windows showed red at the window perimeter where window frame, glass and glass spacer all meet.

Andy Frichtl of Interface Engineering has explained that even new insulated glass units can be a trouble spot in heat loss. Through their commissioning work and efforts to achieve LEED ratings or net-zero energy/water/waste use in their projects, Interface has discovered that glass units in new job sites will often include units lacking argon gas. This creates a vacuum in the glass unit’s air space, causing the inner and outer panes of glass to touch or nearly touch at the center. In a thermal image, this phenomenon shows up as a corona like spot in the center of the pane known as a "thermal signature".

The 90 year old wood sash windows showed significant heat loss as expected. Interestingly, the tendency for heat - trapped between the storm window and the interior sash - to “rise” is readily apparent in the thermal image; shades of red gradating to a cooler yellow from the top of the upper pane to the lower.

Images of the foundation also proved out suspicions that the un-insulated concrete at the basement and crawl-spaces is a significant problem area.

For me, the lesson is that I need to complete work at my basement to insulate the concrete basement walls and isolate and insulate the crawlspace areas. Phase two: window replacement in older areas of the house. Not exactly zero energy use, but a step in the right direction.

Energy and Sustainability

Manley Architects and Geo-Thermal Heating and Cooling

In our continuing effort to advance sustainability issues, Manley Architects recently updated HVAC systems at our home occupancy location to geo-thermal. The geo-thermal heat pump system was installed by Hendrickson HVAC of Battle Ground, Washington and engineered by Hendrickson’s own Howard Eck.

Geo thermal heat pumps operate at as much as 70% greater efficiency than conventional air to air heat pumps. Here’s how it works – simply stated. Using the stable temperatures found from 4’ and deeper below grade, a geo-thermal heat pump system circulates a refrigerant - typically water with an anti-freeze additive - through pipes in the ground known as the “ground loop”. The refrigerant absorbs or sheds heat through contact of the piping with the earth. The heat pump compressor unit then borrows the ground's heat (or sheds heat from the home if in cooling mode) much like a typical air to air heat pump, but using the earth’s stable temperature instead of outside air to heat or cool. The department of Energy has a decent primer on the basics (Dept of Energy Geo Thermal). Our system includes a 3 ton, 2 stage variable speed Climate Master heat pump, served by 2,400 linear feet of horizontal ground loop. A “de-super-heater” system uses waste heat from the home heating system to heat domestic hot water for further energy savings.

Given our small, built-out existing urban site and it’s distinctly Columbia River Valley soils sub-strates, our project created some real challenges and called for true creativity in engineering.

Optimally on a small footprint site, ground loops for refrigerant water will be “vertical”, grouted into cased wells drilled into the earth from vertical to about a 20 degree angle from vertical. A notable example of a geo-thermal heat pump installation on a small urban site is the design for the “Red Steps” building housing a TKTS outlet at Father Duffy Square, Times Square New York (Green Buildings New York). The TKTS booth, which is housed in an enclosure beneath the red steps, is conditioned by a geo thermal heat pump system served by wells. Our new system originally called for three 250’ deep wells. Our driller encountered cobble at a depth of about 20’. The material encountered is typical of gradated river rock deposited by the Missoula Floods during the last ice age. With its round “bowling ball” shape, the drill bit bounced off the cobble like a pinball in an arcade; entertaining, but unproductive! Drill rigs capable of handling the cobble were not available before the next heating season; it was time for plan B.

For us, plan B was making a horizontal ground loop on a small site pan-out. To make this happen, Hendrickson HVAC used a slinky coil arrangement for the ground loop piping and embedded the coils in pervious concrete at a depth of 4’. The higher rating for thermal conductivity of the pervious concrete increased the exchange of heat versus direct contact with soil just enough to make the system viable.

Our system has been up and running since the end of October 2009. In that time we’ve seen our natural gas usage (water heating and other uses) cut by more than 50%. We’re still evaluating our electricity savings as weatherization of the existing structure continues, but the savings in electric utilities also appear significant.

Along with the energy savings, our local public utility, Clark PUD, offers a $2,000 rebate for installation of a geothermal heat pump.  This is typical of programs offered by utility vendors nationwide. This when combined with existing federal tax credits and further incentives and tax credits recently proposed by the Obama administration make upgrades for energy savings and greater sustainability a choice everyone should consider.

Community Service

Roch Manley and Columbia Non Profit Housing
It’s going on one year since Roch Manley, president of Manley Architects, joined the board of directors for Columbia Non Profit Housing (CNPH Home Page) for a three year term. CNPH provides a variety of housing opportunities and housing related services to the Vancouver and Clark County community. This includes high quality, subsidized housing for elderly and persons with disabilities, and workforce housing to backfill available housing stock for individuals and families with moderate incomes.

CNPH deals with single asset entity properties in Clark County that provide housing under HUD Sections 202 and 811 as well as Workforce housing. CNPH was formed in 1981 under the wing of the Vancouver Housing Authority as a separate non-profit entity to facilitate use of federally funded housing programs otherwise unavailable to the VHA. The organization also offers opportunities for new first-time home buyers under it's First Home Loan program funded through local and state sources. Until very recently, CNPH also offered Mortgage Credit counseling under a locally funded program.