Track: Standards, Guidelines and Codes Room: Empire
Sponsor: 4.4 Building Materials and Building Envelope Performance, 1.12 Moisture Management in Buildings, SPC 160 and Residential Building Committee
Chair: Diana Fisler, Ph.D., Associate Member, Johns Manville, Littleton, CO
To assess moisture risks and prevent problems, design analysis needs to consider moisture sources, moisture migration through building assemblies and the resulting moisture and temperature conditions over time. ASHRAE Standard 160, Criteria for Moisture-Control Design Analysis in Buildings, specifies performance-based design criteria for predicting, mitigating or reducing moisture damage to all components of the building, depending on climate, construction type and HVAC system operation. This seminar provides an overview of Standard 160, an update on changes between 160-2009 and 160-2016, and example applications of the standard to high performance residential and commercial buildings across different climates.

1. Introduction to ASHRAE Standard 160
Stanley Gatland II, Member, Certainteed, Philadelphia, PA
ASHRAE Standard 160 provides standardized criteria for conducting, evaluating and reporting the results of hygrothermal analysis on new and existing building envelope systems. Hygrothermal analysis predicts the impact of transient heat and moisture transfer on building envelopes over time. Several computer modeling programs are available to designers. This presentation gives an overview of Standard 160, covering design input parameters, such as initial moisture conditions of building materials, indoor temperatures, indoor relative humidity, building air pressure differentials, air flow and weather data; minimum requirements for analytical tools that perform transient heat and moisture transfer calculations; and criteria for evaluating performance.

2. Update on ASHRAE Standard 160-2016: Changes Since 160-2009
Samuel Glass, Ph.D., Member, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI
ASHRAE Standard 160 was first published in 2009 and was republished in 2016. This presentation highlights the major changes to the standard, with attention to (1) the default values for residential moisture generation used in calculating indoor humidity levels and (2) the evaluation criteria for conditions necessary to minimize mold growth. The simplified criteria for minimizing mold growth in 160-2009 were replaced with an empirical model that predicts risk of mold growth and is more consistent with performance observed in the field. In addition to these updates, several potential future changes to Standard 160 are discussed.

3. Applications of ASHRAE Standard 160 to Various Climate Zones
Manfred Kehrer, P.Eng., Member, WJE, Chicago, IL
ASHRAE Standard 160 has changed the evaluation criteria in its 2016 edition. Previously focused only on threshold levels for relative humidities in the 2009 edition, the standard has now introduced a mold-growth model which takes into account temperature, time and different mold growth sensitivities of building materials. This presentation shows the application of this mold-growth model on three different projects with wall, roof and floor systems in residential and commercial enclosures. Furthermore, attendees are shown the whole decision process when applying ASHRA Standard 160 to make the hygrothermal performance assessment a success.

4. Applications of ASHRAE Standard 160 to Commercial Buildings in both Hot and Humid and Cold Climates
Achilles Karagiozis, Ph.D., Member, Owens Corning, Granville, OH
ASHRAE 160 was developed to allow designers a systematic method to design for moisture control. This presentation shows the design application of a number air permeable and impermeable insulations deployed in commercial builders. The results show how the proper application of the SPC 160 standard is applied to a number of commercial wall systems in a number of climate zones. The presentation concludes with a number of new activities and possible future direction of SPC 160 and how to better address the needs of our ASHRAE stakeholders.

Presented: Wednesday, January 24, 2018, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Run Time: 90 min.

This is a zip file that consists of PowerPoint slides synchronized with the audio-recording of the speaker (recorded presentation), PDF files of the slides, and audio only (mp3) for each presentation.