COMMERCIAL LOAD

ESTIMATING

Load Estimating
Level 3:
Block and
Zone Loads

Technical Development Program

Technical Development Programs (TDP) are modules of technical training on HVAC theory,
system design, equipment selection and application topics. They are targeted at engineers and
designers who wish to develop their knowledge in this field to effectively design, specify, sell or
apply HVAC equipment in commercial applications.
Although TDP topics have been developed as stand-alone modules, there are logical groupings of topics. The modules within each group begin at an introductory level and progress to
advanced levels. The breadth of this offering allows for customization into a complete HVAC
curriculum from a complete HVAC design course at an introductory-level or to an advancedlevel design course. Advanced-level modules assume prerequisite knowledge and do not review
basic concepts.

The block and zone load portion of commercial load estimating takes the designer through
the process of making a practical estimate of the amount of heating and/or cooling energy needed
to condition a building. Block and zone load estimates provide the data necessary to select heating and cooling equipment that can condition the spaces within a building. Using the outputs for
the building block and zone load estimates, the HVAC system equipment selections can be made
to complete the design. Along with psychrometrics, load estimating establishes the foundation
upon which HVAC system design and operation occur.
Load Estimating, Level 3: Block and Zone Loads is the third in a four-part series on load estimating. It is preceded by overview and fundamentals topics, and followed by a TDP that
reviews refinements required for preparing system-based design load estimates.

2006 Carrier Corporation. All rights reserved.

The information in this manual is offered as a general guide for the use of industry and consulting engineers in designing systems.
Judgment is required for application of this information to specific installations and design applications. Carrier is not responsible
for any uses made of this information and assumes no responsibility for the performance or desirability of any resulting system
design.
The information in this publication is subject to change without notice. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
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Carrier Corporation.

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CARRIER CORPORATION

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Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 11
Load Estimating Process Overview ........................................................................................... 33
Step 1 Gather Building Information ................................................................................... 33
Step 2 Preliminary Equipment Zoning ............................................................................... 33
Step 3 Input Space Data ...................................................................................................... 33
Step 4 Control Zoning......................................................................................................... 33
Step 5 Input HVAC System Parameters ............................................................................. 33
Step 6 Run Load Calculations............................................................................................. 44
Step 7 Interpret Results, Revise if Necessary ..................................................................... 44
Fundamental Terminology ......................................................................................................... 44
Step 1 Gather Building Information...................................................................................................... 77
Example Building Chicago Office Building ........................................................................... 77
Building Take-Off...................................................................................................................... 99
Building Take-Off...................................................................................................................... 99
Step 2 Preliminary Equipment Zoning .............................................................................................1010
Zoning Methods ..................................................................................................................... 1010
Perimeter / Core Zoning Method ....................................................................................... 1010
Exposure Zoning Method .................................................................................................. 1111
Usage Zoning Method ....................................................................................................... 1212
Step 3 Input Space Data .....................................................................................................................1212
Outdoor Design Conditions ................................................................................................... 1313
Sources ............................................................................................................................... 1414
Dry Bulb / Mean Coincident Wet Bulb ............................................................................. 1414
Wet Bulb / Mean Coincident Dry Bulb ............................................................................. 1414
Dew Point / Mean Coincident Dry Bulb and Humidity Ratio ........................................... 1515
Humidity Ratio .................................................................................................................. 1515
Mean Daily Range ............................................................................................................. 1515
Prevailing Wind Speed ...................................................................................................... 1515
Heating Dry Bulb ............................................................................................................... 1515
Latitude and Longitude ...................................................................................................... 1616
Elevation ............................................................................................................................ 1616
Thermostat Set Points ............................................................................................................ 1616
Lighting .................................................................................................................................. 1717
People..................................................................................................................................... 1818
Electric Equipment ................................................................................................................ 1919
Plug Load Usage Diversity ................................................................................................ 1919
Load Factors ...................................................................................................................... 2020
Electric Motors ...................................................................................................................... 2020
Partitions ................................................................................................................................ 2020
Internal Load Scheduling ....................................................................................................... 2121
Diversity Factors ................................................................................................................ 2121
Hourly Scheduling ............................................................................................................. 2222
Thermostat Scheduling ...................................................................................................... 2222
Latent Sources........................................................................................................................ 2222
Chicago Office Building Input Review ................................................................................. 2323
Step 4 Control Zoning .......................................................................................................................2323
Zoning for Comfort ................................................................................................................ 2323
Balancing Comfort and Economics ................................................................................... 2424
Step 5 Input HVAC System Parameters ...........................................................................................2525
System Types ......................................................................................................................... 2525
System Loads ......................................................................................................................... 2626

Ventilation Versus Infiltration ............................................................................................... 2727

Direct Exhaust ........................................................................................................................ 2727
Step 6 Run Load Calculations ........................................................................................................... 2929
Review Inputs and File Take-Off Sheets ............................................................................... 2929
Select Reports for Viewing and Printing ............................................................................... 2929
Air System Sizing Summary .............................................................................................. 3030
System Design Load Summary .......................................................................................... 3030
Zone Design Load Summary ............................................................................................. 3030
System Psychrometric Graph ............................................................................................. 3131
Ventilation Sizing Summary .............................................................................................. 3131
Hourly Air System Loads .................................................................................................. 3131
Hourly Zone Loads ............................................................................................................ 3131
System Psychrometrics Table ............................................................................................ 3131
Archive Project to a Back-Up Location ................................................................................. 3131
Step 7 Interpret Results, Revise If Needed ....................................................................................... 3232
Design Check Figure Review ................................................................................................ 3232
Peak Load Times.................................................................................................................... 3434
System Load Sensitivity......................................................................................................... 3535
Resulting Relative Humidity .................................................................................................. 3535
Creeping Safety Factor........................................................................................................... 3636
Plotting Outputs on the Psychrometric Chart ...................................................................................... 3737
State Points............................................................................................................................. 3838
Coil Process Line ................................................................................................................... 3838
Room Sensible Heat Factor (RSHF) Line.............................................................................. 3939
Gains and Losses Off of the RSHF Line................................................................................ 3939
Load Estimate Outputs for Equipment Selection ................................................................................ 4040
Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 4040
Work Session 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 4141
Work Session 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 4343
Work Session 1 Answers...................................................................................................................... 4545
Work Session 2 Answers...................................................................................................................... 4646
Appendix A Terms List ..................................................................................................................... 4747
Appendix B Carriers Block Load 4.0 Space Input Sheets .............................................................. 4848
Appendix C Carriers E-20A and E-10A Manual Estimating Forms .............................................. 5151
Appendix D Thermal Resistances of Plane Air Spaces .................................................................... 5353
Appendix E Typical Thermal Properties of Common Building and Insulating Materials ............. 5454
Appendix F Table of Design Conditions .......................................................................................... 5858
Appendix G HVAC Design Check Figures ...................................................................................... 6262
Appendix G HVAC Design Check Figures ...................................................................................... 6363
Appendix H Chicago Weather Reports ............................................................................................ 6565
Appendix I Chicago Office Building Load Estimate Inputs and Outputs ....................................... 6868
References ............................................................................................................................................ 7979
Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ 8080

LOAD ESTIMATING, LEVEL 3: BLOCK AND ZONE LOADS

Introduction
This Technical Development Program (TDP) training module is the third in a four-part series
covering Commercial HVAC Load Estimating. While the first module mostly covered load components and theory, this
TDP concentrates on the
actual steps necessary to
perform a load estimate.
Whether you are using a
software
program or
doing a quick manual load
calculation, many of the
preliminary steps are
similar. Figure 1 shows a
portion of a manual load
calculation form.

Figure 1
Manual Load Estimate Form

Figure 2 shows inputs and outputs of a computer software load-estimating program. This
module focuses primarily on computer-based load estimating methods. The manual method using
Carriers Cooling Load
Estimate Form E-20A and
Heating Load Estimate
Form E-10A, is presented
in detail in the System
Design Manual, Book
One and the supplemental
Users Guide, Load Estimating
Using
Load
Factors and Equivalent
Temperatures, T200-90.

Figure 2
Load Estimating Software Inputs and Outputs

Commercial Load Estimating

LOAD ESTIMATING, LEVEL 3: BLOCK AND ZONE LOADS

Once the building orientation and

envelope design have been finalized
by the architect, the HVAC designer
can begin to compile the detailed information necessary to perform a load
estimate for equipment sizing and
selection. This generally occurs during the design development (DD)
phase of the project. The building
design phases are shown in Figure 3.
This information includes, but is not
limited to: local design weather conditions; wall, roof, and glass material
properties; solar exposures; shading;
and internal load components such as Figure 3
lights, people and electrical equip- Building Design Phases
ment (plug loads).
At the earlier schematic stage, rough loads are computed to help eliminate certain HVAC
(heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems from further consideration. One might ask,
Why are we thinking about system types now, when we have not even calculated detailed load
estimates yet? This is because system selection and load estimating are not done in a vacuum.
Loads impact system selection and system types affect final load results.
For example, lets use the well-established 400 ft2 per ton design check figure for an office
building. A 20-story high-rise with 10,000 sq ft per floor could be ball-park sized at 500 tons.
20 stories 10,000ft 2 / floor 400ft 2 / ton 500 tons
This means that it is unlikely that packaged equipment (rooftop units or split-systems) will be used, due to
the large installed capacity and distance to the roof
equipment location. Instead, a chilled water system
would be more appropriate for this application. Likewise,
a 10,000 sq ft single story office (10,000 400 = 25 tons)
would likely not utilize a chiller, but rather would use a
rooftop unit or DX (direct expansion) split-system.

System Information
Knowing what type of system is
likely to go into the building
helps determine system load
components when running DD
load estimates.

This TDP will explain the procedures and steps necessary to gather the data needed to calculate load estimates using computer software. We will discuss the different ways to zone a building
that yield the sizing results needed to do proper equipment selections. We will then interpret outputs from computerized load calculations, and see how they affect equipment selection.
This introduction section contains a brief overview of the load estimating process, which is
divided into seven distinct steps. Subsequent sections contain expanded details about each of the
seven steps involved, along with appropriate examples to further explain the effort involved.

Commercial Load Estimating

LOAD ESTIMATING, LEVEL 3: BLOCK AND ZONE LOADS

Load Estimating Process Overview

The process of load estimating is not always linear, however, as a general rule, the following
steps are necessary to perform a load estimate.

Step 1 Gather Building Information

This step includes performing a building take-off and gathering all physical data about the
building structure, layout, function, occupancy, and usage schedules. This allows proper identification of all load components and facilitates the sizing and layout of terminal units and ductwork.

Step 2 Preliminary Equipment Zoning

The building floor plan is divided into individual areas or spaces for load analysis purposes.
These early zones are rough areas that are mostly based on air handler coverage. Each piece of
equipment needs to be sized, based on the demands of the zone heating and cooling loads.

Step 3 Input Space Data

The space data is needed for the software to run the load estimating calculations. These include all building envelope properties (walls, windows, and roofs), internal and external heat
gains, occupancy counts, and operating schedules.

Step 4 Control Zoning

At this step, the designer combines spaces into comfort control zones (areas with similar heating and cooling load characteristics). Additional system decisions will be affected. For instance, if
you know that you are going to use a multiple-zone system served by packaged rooftop equipment, you will eventually need to decide how to achieve zone-level control from a single
packaged unit. This could include the use of either VAV (variable air volume) terminals or a
damper control system like a VVT (variable volume and temperature) system.

Step 5 Input HVAC System Parameters

During preliminary design, system selection decisions should be far enough along to permit
meaningful load estimating input. For instance, a high-rise building will likely utilize all-air or
all-water central systems, while a small restaurant or retail store would likely use small packagedtype equipment. Even at this early stage, additional system decisions may be made. For instance,
if you know that you are going to use zone-level equipment, like PTACs or unit ventilators, the
ventilation air design decisions are different than when using central systems using mixing boxes.
Similarly, there would be no ceiling plenum effects or duct heat transfer.

Commercial Load Estimating

LOAD ESTIMATING, LEVEL 3: BLOCK AND ZONE LOADS

Step 6 Run Load Calculations

Hopefully, as part of Step 3, blank input forms were used to compile your design load inputs.
Taking the extra time required to write down the input values allows you to check and verify the
data. It also offers the added advantage of creating a paper trail for others to follow should another designer have to pick up where you left off and complete the design. For this step, the run
parameters are set and the computer is used to complete the run load calculations.

Step 7 Interpret Results, Revise if Necessary

Using HVAC design check figures and rules-of-thumb sizing guidelines allow you to verify
that calculation results are within a reasonable tolerance level. This includes a complete psychrometric analysis to identify all state points and performance lines in the air system. Load estimate
outputs are used to select most of the HVAC equipment, therefore, they must be accurate and realistic.
For example, calculated results requiring very cold supply air or very warm return air temperatures are red flags indicating a possible humidity control problem or software input error.
System modeling concepts can help pin down these problems and help the user make necessary
corrections. Consult TDP-303, Load Estimating, Level 4: HVAC System-Based Design, for details in this application area of load estimating.
Each of these steps is covered in detail in the sections that follow, but first we will present
fundamental terminology and zoning concepts.

Fundamental Terminology
Load estimates are the summation of heat transfer elements into (gains) or out of (losses) the
spaces of a building. Each heat transfer element is called a load component. Load components
represent sensible and latent heat transfers (in Btuh) from many different sources. All load components can be assembled
into one of three basic
groups: external space
loads, internal space
loads, and system loads.
See Figure 4. Each group
has been covered in detail in TDP-301, Load
Estimating, Level 2:
Fundamentals. Appendix
A contains a terms list for
the abbreviations found in
Figure 4.

Figure 4
Cooling Load Components

Commercial Load Estimating