From: Mark Howles <meshka747@gmail.com>
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. <piclist@mit.edu>
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Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2021 15:39:00 -0700
Subject: Re: [EE] HVAC filter efficiency and energy consumption
Thread-Topic: [EE] HVAC filter efficiency and energy consumption
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Thank you all for your responses. Sorry I should've mentioned that this is
my first post, but I've been a long time lurker.

So it does appear that you mostly agree with the paper that the effects
should not be significant. I have just installed new Merv 12 filters and
will be checking if there is any significant changes in energy consumption.
As a future fun project I might do some more sophisticated air speed or
pressure drop measurements.

On Mon, Jun 28, 2021 at 5:27 PM Brent Brown <brent@eds.co.nz> wrote:

> Hello Mark,
>
> Once upon a time I worked on a ventilation system for houses that pulls
> down
> warm/dry air from the roof space and pushes out cold/damp air from inside
> the
> house. The idea somewhat works some of the time, but that's another
> discussion.
>
> But the part that relates to your filter/energy consumption question...
> the ventilation
> system had a fine grade air filter and we sought to see if we could
> measure its
> condition (new/clean/free-flowing vs old/dirty/blocked). One would assume
> there
> would be a detectable difference in fan speed or power, and we sought to
> detect &
> indicate when the filter needed to be changed.
>
> Fan RPM was the easiest data to obtain, but that alone showed no
> definitive
> difference between clean and dirty filters. Likewise fan current offered
> no clear
> correlation. Fan power we did also try... but from memory that also did
> not offer the
> clear picture we desired. Adding air pressure sensors before and after th=
e
> filter
> might allow a reasonable correlation to be made, but that adds some
> cost/complexity.
>
> On 28 Jun 2021 at 7:51, Mark Howles wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I was contemplating changing my Air filters to MERV11 and was told by
> some
> > people that they are bad for energy usage and air flow. I came across a
> > study that measured and compared the effects of low efficiency and high
> > efficiency filters and I found the technical details fascinating. Their
> > conclusion was that effects are not significant in residential settings=
..
> >
> > Does anyone have experience with this, or have monitored this before on
> > their own?
> >
> > I thought of just correlating energy consumption increase/decrease arou=
nd
> > the initial few days of installing  the filter, at similar temperatures=
,
> > though the paper suggests there can be a complex interaction of many
> > variables before coming to conclusions.
> >
> > Here is a link to the Study:
> >
> https://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/novoselac/Publications/Novoselac_ASHRAE_=
Transactions_2010.pdf
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