{"id":522,"date":"2014-04-02T16:44:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T20:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tepperarchitects.com\/?p=522"},"modified":"2014-04-02T17:48:56","modified_gmt":"2014-04-02T21:48:56","slug":"passive-houses-breathe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tepperarchitects.com\/?p=522","title":{"rendered":"A Passive Houses Breathes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Passive House experiences 7 complete air exchanges in every 24 hour period! That’s a lot of clean fresh air<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I speak with builders about the Passive House Standard they stop me in my tracks as soon as I mentioned that these buildings need to be virtually air-tight. \u00a0“But doesn’t a building NEED to breathe? \u00a0Don’t you know about the dangers of building too tight!?!” \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You can open the windows in your Passive House whenever you want, just as in a regular house. \u00a0But let’s consider the hot humid summers and cold winters when the windows are typically closed\u2026.how does a typical house “breathe” during these months as compared to an airtight construction?<\/p>\n

People need fresh air inside their buildings, but let’s think about how we bring that \u00a0air indoors. \u00a0When the wind blows around a\u00a0typical house negative pressure \u00a0causes the outside air to infiltrate through “cracks” in the building envelope, typically around window and door frames or up from the crawl space. \u00a0There is a scientific approach to measuring just how much air infiltrates through these cracks – it is called a<\/span> blower door test<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0Houses built in the 1950’s and 1960’s might measure 10.0 air changes per\u00a0hour (ACH) on such a test and are considered very leaky (it is very difficult for the house to hold\u00a0not the heat you generate). \u00a0New houses built to current energy conservation codes aim for air tightness levels around 3.0 ACH. \u00a0Why then are builders\u00a0alarmed when I\u00a0say that a Passive House aims for 0.6 ACH? \u00a0Because at 3.0 ACH there are still enough cracks in the construction for\u00a0outside\u00a0air to infiltrate when the wind blows. However, by relying on outside air infiltration you also invite air pollutants, allergens, humidity, and of course the temperature extremes. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To address concerns about indoor air quality and thermal comfort, many new houses include Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) as part of the mechanical design. \u00a0The system provides continuous fresh air ventilation\u00a0without \u00a0sending out significant heat or coolant with the exhaust air. \u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>fresh air intake can include MERV 13 or HEPA filtration and humidity control. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With a Passive House you depend on mechanical ventilation, but have the freedom to\u00a0eliminate the\u00a0traditionally large furnace and air conditioner. \u00a0Building to the Passive House standard is an\u00a0amazing\u00a0opportunity to reduce the building’s carbon footprint while dramatically improving\u00a0indoor air quality.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"blower-door\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Passive House experiences 7 complete air exchanges in every 24 hour period! That’s a lot of clean fresh air When I speak with builders about the Passive House Standard they stop me in my tracks as soon as I mentioned that these buildings need to be virtually air-tight. \u00a0“But doesn’t a building NEED to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Passive Houses Breathes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Passive Houses Breathes - Tepper Architects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tepperarchitects.com\/?p=522\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Passive Houses Breathes - Tepper Architects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Passive House experiences 7 complete air exchanges in every 24 hour period! 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