buck_taylor Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 (edited) How does Chief calculate thermal areas that are exported? I created a 21' x 21' square building, standard 2x6 walls, and a 10' finished ceiling. When I export to ResCheck I get the following areas: Walls: Gross area 201 ft. Floor: 399 ft. Ceiling: 403 ft. The window and door areas are correct. This is a simple example, but I do a lot of mechanical design and energy compliance work on larger complex homes and these seemingly small errors can add up. The expected floor area and ceiling area should be 400 sq.ft. each. There is no reason for a difference. The expected wall surface area should be 200 sq.ft. each wall. Why the extra foot? What I'm asking is what reference is Chief using when defining a space or thermal boundry? For heat loss, the thermal envelope starts with the first surface you encounter, so technically it would be in the inside surface of drywall for walls and ceiling, and floor finish for the floors. Edited March 20, 2022 by buck_taylor Clarification of expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 I guess you need to be more specific as to the results you are expecting. Such as you have four walls @201 = 804 but you want the doors and windows subtracted from that ? Everything else looks ok to me maybe. If you have a cathedral ceiling it is going to be more than the floor depending on the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbuttery Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 there are various "official" methods - depending on the agency requesting the info I have suggested for 15+ years that Chief create a schedule for the most common methods then the user could chose the needed info Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buck_taylor Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 Update: looks like the floor area is calculated from the surface of the sheetrock, while the ceiling is calculated from the face of the framing. The walls appear to be a combination. Got a few more configurations to try and confirm. @lbuttery- yes this would be a good option to have in a preference or configuration to allow the user to select the appropriate surface. It is awkward to explain to an observer why there is a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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