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Elevator Room Pressure Control |
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rev. 2008-11-25
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Elevator Room Pressure Control |
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rev. 2008-11-25
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Existing Conditions
The elevator room is a hidden but very significant location where conditioned air is lost from the building. An exhaust fan runs continuously to remove about 6,000 cfm air from the elevator room, with the intent of cooling the DC generators, motors, and controls in the room. Because the elevator room does not communicate with outside, the fan is drawing air up the elevator shaft through large openings in the mechanical room and elevator room concrete slab floors. In winter, this accelerates the losses due to stack effect, and also fails to take advantage of freely available cooling from outside.
Retrofit Conditions
The proposed solution involves isolating the elevator room from the rest of the building as much as possible, and opening a hole in the penthouse wall so that cooling can be drawn from outside. Temperature and fan speed controls will allow the fan operation to match actual cooling requirements. The project would include these elements:
| • | Seal elevator shaft openings in sub-room floor |
| • | 3hp VFD and 3hp inverter-duty motor on elevator room exhaust fan |
| • | Install OA dampers through outside wall of elevator penthouse |
| • | Close door to mechanical room |
| • | Add differential pressure sensing, temperature sensing, exhaust fan speed, and intake damper control |
Aside from saving fuel and electricity, this measure will reduce stack effect during cold weather. The lower floors, especially the retail mall and elevator lobby will be more comfortable because there will much less incoming cold air at the base of the building.
Further Benefits
Application Details
Issues and Concerns
References
Analysis
Analysis text here