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House A - 57 Bennett Drive - Full Basement Envelope System
Part 1 - Heat Savings
Using the Hot2000 software program, ECHO Team Canada estimated in its original condition this home would have a annual fuel consumption of 4381.55 Litres per year. (See page 10 of ECHO Team Report) A review of historical data shows this home actually consumed 2953 Litres per year in its original condition (See Chart 6). Fuel consumption in the first year of this study (October 2003- October 2004) was 2681 Litres per year (See Chart 7). Actual fuel consumption from October 1st 2004 to March 10th 2004 plus estimated fuel consumption through to October 2005 indicated the fuel consumption to be 1027 Litres per year (See Chart 8)
During the winter months, in its original condition there was a fuel consumption of 18.45 Litres per day (2001-2003). During the winter of 2003-2004 fuel consumption was reduced to 10.5 Litres per day. The winter of 2004-2005 shows a further reduction in fuel consumption that averaged 7.9 Litres per day (See Chart 9).
Part 2- Humidity Reductions
a) Concrete core humidity levels at start on October 28th, 2003 were 99.75% and has since shown a steady decline, dropping to 34.98% by December 2004 (See Chart A3). Results show a 65% humidity reduction in the first year. Outside air temperatures have a minimal effect on concrete core temperature. Core temperatures maintain a close proximity to interior basement air temperatures (See Chart E1).
b) Throughout the test year, relative humidity levels averaged close to 80%. At start the interior basement humidity level was 67.4% and had steadily decreased to 33% by March 2004.
On April 1st 2004, this home was occupied by new tenants. For the duration of their stay all laundry was hand washed, and hung from lines in the basement to drip dry. As a result interior humidity levels escalated. This practice was discovered by NLHC in late August. (See letter L1) This property was vacated on August 31st 2004. Once vacated the interior humidity level began a steady decline and returned to the 33% level recorded in March of 2004. (See Chart A1)
Part 3- Geo-Thermal Heating
Day 1 - October 21st 2003 - Recorded data showed the inside basement air temperature to be 18.6°C, a concrete floor slab surface temperature of 15.56°C, and a 17.06°C below slab soil temperature. Close monitoring indicated the below floor slab soil temperature was steadily rising. By mid January 2004, temperatures had surpassed the interior air temperature. Records indicate the below slab soil temperature stabilized between 18°C and 20°C. The interior basement air temperature fluctuates, but has been recorded dipping below 14°C. This trend carried through for the duration of the project. On October 21st 2004, the below floor slab soil temperature was 20.83°C. There was only one time in our test that the soil temperatures dropped due to the summer temperatures rising and the snow melting which caused run off. This run off caused below floor temperatures to drop a little due to the saturation of the soil. Afterwards, the temperatures rose to previous levels again.
Recorded data reveals the concrete floor slab temperature remained consistently higher than inside air temperature, and being consistently lower than the below slab soil temperatures. This indicates that heat from the soils below was being transferred into the concrete floor slab (See Chart A4).
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