You Know About Manual J, But What About Manuals D, S, and T?

HVAC design is not as simple a process as one might think. It actually takes a lot of thought with lots of detail to design it correctly. The effectiveness and efficiency of the unit depends on a number of factors. The sizes of the outdoor and indoor units, the number of bends and the sizes of your duct work, as well the sizes of your boots and registers, all of this plays a huge role in the overall design of the project. There should be no guesswork if you wish to be comfortable in your home or business. Thankfully, with the Manual J load calculation you don’t have to do any guesswork. The Manual J is one of several technical manuals published by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA).

In order to have HVAC equipment that is the right size, your contractor must – yes , must– perform a Manual J load calculation before installation.  The reason is that there are many other factors besides the ones mentioned above that come into play, and this is only part of what is required by the State when one goes to pull a permit. For example,

Manual J isn’t the only technical manual that can be used during residential HVAC installations. There are also Manuals S, D, and T, as well.

What if someone else has the same size house as me. Can’t I just install the same size equipment as them?

You could, however this would not be a good idea due to many factors that could change the sizing of your HVAC equipment.  Many contractors go by what they have always done without taking into account current building requirements on things that would affect the HVAC system being installed. They are guessing what is needed based on old rules of thumb instead of using actual ACCA technical manuals.

It is important to remember that the size of your house isn’t all that matters.

Consider what the problem might be with this scenario of building the same home as someone else. Could it be that the other persons house might not be as similar to your house as you think. How so? Consider the following factors:  Does your home have the same number of Windows, number of rooms , the same R-Value of insulation in the attic, walls, and crawl space?   All of the items above affect your HVAC design.  So the question is, how would that affect you and your comfort level while living in this home? Consider the following:

If your HVAC system is not designed properly you could end up with:

• If your AC is too large you could end up with a very cold home and to much Humidity in the hotter months, The result to our comfort level is that we would be cold and clammy.
• And if your HVAC system has a Furnace that is too small, extremely dry conditions in the colder months.
• Too little airflow to circulate conditioning to your home and your coil could freeze up resulting in no air flow at all to your home.
• Excessive static pressure and premature equipment failure could be the result of ill sized equipment.

You want to get your money’s worth and a properly sized system would be energy efficient thereby saving you money, run properly thereby allowing your equipment to have a full life again saving you money and at the same time make your home a very comfortable place to live in.

Manual J

Manual J is the “load calculation” manual.

How does it work?

We use a Manual J to figure out heat loss/heat gain. Your home loses heat in the winter and gains heat in the summer. Once we know how much, we can start planning out the equipment you need to properly heat and cool each room.

A Manual J looks at:

• Insulation levels above, below, and around your home
• Orientation of your house relative to the sun
• Air infiltration rate
• Sizes of all windows and doors and their U factor (R-Value) and SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient).
• Square footage in each room
• Height of ceilings
• Amount of heat produced by people and appliances

After all the factors have been considered, we can determine how many BTU’s of heat each room loses or gains during a specific time of year. This also helps us determine how much conditioned air your system needs to pump into each room.  After performing a Manual J, we can better say what size system is needed.

Manual S: Equipment selection

Manual J helps us select equipment and what size you need.

The Manual J results for sensible heat load, and latent heat load are used for the Manual S to identify equipment capable of cooling and/or heating a certain percentage of each. It helps to figure out which indoor and outdoor unit combinations will satisfy the load requirements for your home.

Basically, the Manual S goes beyond tonnage to help you find HVAC equipment that’s properly sized and meets your load requirements for sensible and latent heat.

Manual D: Ductwork

It’s important that you don’t connect the wrong sized ducts to your air handler.

It would easy to just add the same duct types and sizes to every home, but that would be a bad idea. The location of your ducts, their sizes, and their position to the air handler are important. How far does the air have to travel? How many bends can we add without hurting airflow? How can we balance airflow given the static pressures?

These are all things to consider in order to get your duct work right.

We use Manual D specifications as much as possible to select and install the right ducts.

If you increase the tonnage of your system, you wold need to increase the duct work. Manual D’s are necessary to do this correctly.

Manual T: Grills

Air grills, also known as, vents, diffusers, and registers, might not seem like a big deal, but it is.  Does it matter how big your grills are or where they’re located?  It definitely matters. Putting an air register in the wrong spot or making the opening too small or too big can cause air to not mix properly.  Improper air circulation can occur if you don’t put your air registers in the right spot or size them appropriately.  A Manual T helps us solve all problems related to air registers. For example, Manual T shows us:

• How big the supply duct and return registers should be.  The length of a duct also affects the amount of air that would flow into your room and is taken into consideration.
• The best places to put the registers in each room

• How many registers you need
• What types of diffusers best distribute the air

ACCA Manuals are important

If you want a high-performance HVAC system you need an ACCA technical manual.  An HVAC system designed according to Manuals J, S, D, and T will outperform the typical HVAC setup.

You want to be comfortable in your home and it’s possible to get there, but your HVAC contractor needs to use the proper tools. ACCA technical manuals will help them get there.