The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes
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The Best Velocity for Moving Air Through Ducts, Part 2
This is the second post in a 2-part series on the physics of moving air through ducts. If you missed it, click here for The Best Velocity for Moving air…
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Pete’s Puzzle: What Exactly is a Vapor Perm?
[Author's Note, June 21 2019: I'd like to leave this story as is for the time being, even though--as my wife is wont to point out--I only got the story…
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The Best Velocity for Moving Air Through Ducts, Part 1
It's obvious that moving air too quickly through ducts can be a problem. Faster air means more turbulence, more resistance, and more noise. But I run into a lot of…
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How Often Should You Change the Filter?
One of the topics I've hammered on for years is the inadequacy of using rules of thumb for sizing air conditioners. The standard one ton of air conditioning capacity for…
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Wingnut Testing of Soffit-to-Ridge Venting, Round 2
It has been a while since I blogged about my first round of Wingnut roof vent testing, so here is a reminder of the questions that the tests should answer:…
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The Problem With Skin Flakes in Your Air Conditioner
I never read Robert Fulghum's book, All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, but I have a clear memory of learning about one thing in the book: …
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Pete’s Products: ThermalBuck
ThermalBuck inventor John Brooks is a very clever, passionate building professional who is job-site savvy. He saw a weak component of high-performance walls: wood window bucks in exterior walls with…
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How to Ensure a Low Pressure Drop Across a High-MERV Filter
Last August I began a series of articles on filtration and indoor air quality. You can find them listed in the related articles section but let's do a quick review…
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Heat Pump Balance Point and the Building Enclosure
So we've looked at a simple way to estimate the heat pump balance point. Then I showed how the capacity of the heat pump affects the balance point. (A larger…
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How (Older) Homes Work
Opportunities for builders to obtain building science education may seem scant, but opportunities for people who own and operate buildings -- particularly homeowners -- are even rarer. About two years…
