Operations & Maintenance Advisor

HVAC: Outside-Air Dampers

Perhaps the most common rooftop unit malady is improper damper operation. A study of
13 rooftop units on small commercial buildings found that not a single one had properly
operating outside-air dampers. This problem can have major energy consequences in
regions that otherwise could take advantage of economizer operation; it can also have
potentially serious indoor air quality impacts in all climates.
Outside-air dampers on a packaged rooftop unit are shown in Figure 1. These dampers
must endure a continual flow of dirty air that fouls the pivot points and actuator mechanism
(the coarse prefilter only keeps leaves and birds out of the unit). If operating properly, the
dampers will prevent the compressor from running when outside air temperature is below
about 60 Fahrenheit (F). Unless they are kept clean and well-lubricated, however, they
can stick in place and rob the unit of free cooling potential (if closed) or overload the
cooling coil with too much hot outside air (if open).

Figure 1: Outside-air dampers

These dampers have a dirty job: directing the flow of particulate-laden urban air. Unless they are
cleaned and lubricated regularly, they cannot perform well. The grille on the right is a pre-filter
that keeps out large objects.

Source: E SOURCE

During damper servicing, moveable surfaces should be cleaned and lubricated. The
cleaning can be done with a power washer or with a bucket of soapy water and a brush.
As long as a service technician is already on the roof, this cleaning and testing should take
about 15 minutes, costing US$10 (at $40 per hour for labor). If this prevents one of the 5ton compressors in a 10-ton unit from running for just 100 hours, it will save 465 kilowattAfter cleaning and lubrication, a damper should be tested. First, it should be run through
its full range of motion. Tools can generate electrical control signals to drive the actuator,
or the economizer setpoint can be manipulated at the control panel. Then the economizer
setpoint should be checked. Although many economizers are set at about 60F, the
setpoint can be as high as the return-air temperature (about 74F) to provide beneficial
ventilation. However, in high-humidity climates (or where outside air is very polluted), it
may not make sense to maximize outside-air flow at low drybulb temperatures.

Copyright 2006 - E Source Companies LLC. All rights reserved.

Operations & Maintenance Advisor

One of the easiest ways to make a service technician groan is to mention enthalpy
controllers for outside-air economizers, which attempt to account for both the temperature
and humidity of outside air. These devices are notoriously unreliable because of the
difficulty of measuring humidity with inexpensive sensors. Until a reliable, accurate, and
cheap humidity sensor appears, rooftop unit economizers should be controlled by drybulb
temperature sensors. (However, a possible exception to this rule is a building with a goodquality central humidity sensor that sends control commands to rooftop units through an
energy management system.)

Copyright 2006 - E Source Companies LLC. All rights reserved.