HVAC – Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

HVAC – Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning

Considerations

  1. Permanent – more often use – vs more as backup, emergency use.
    1. Permanent
      1. Whole-house (t0pic outside realm of this site; permanent whole house systems always uses as lot of energy, not suitable for backup generator use…)
      2. Window units.
    2. Temporary
      1. Portable. Think about alternative use, like for garage or external workshop when not used in emergency case (like cooling / heating a bedroom+bath)
      2. Window unit that can be installed / removed w/o too much hassle
  2. How big unit, capacity for cooling AND/or heating, depending on what emergency scenario you focus on mitigating.
    1. Use SACC values for comparisons!
  3. Powering – how many watts will be required to run the unit, in different modes. Think backup generator calculations, how big unit will be required.
  4. … (ease of use, maintenance requirements, brand / quality, price – CAPEX, OPEX, …)

Dimensioning – Capacity

SACC = Seasonally Adjusted Cooling Capacity (SACC) ratings (US DOE, Department of Energy)

Technology Considerations

EXAMPLE

  1. Primarily as Temporary use / Backup, in case of emergency.
    1. Cooling – Hot summers, if / when electrical grid fails (fair to expect more to happen, global warming and all)
    2. Heating – Winter storms, if / when electrical grid fails … (point just made)
  2. 400 SF (for one bedroom and a connected bathroom) – an emergency area
  3. Backup power source will be a portable petrol-based generator, aim for 1000 W use or less

Resources