The hourly dynamic response and seasonal energy consumption of an electric-duct heater (47,000 Btu/h input) and an advanced gas-fired furnace (73,000 Btu/h input), equipped with a powered burner, were determined for a one-story house located in Chicago, Illinois. The house had a living area of 1150 ft², was equipped with a forced-alr distribution system and was uninhabited during testing.

Instrumentation was installed to obtain hourly electric and gas consumption and cycling behavior and concurrent outdoor weather data of temperature, solar radiation, and wind speed and direction. Data were collected from November 27, 1985, to May 22, 1986, while electric and gas-fired heating systems were sequentially flip-flopped as the heating source on a weekly basis, and the indoor temperature maintained at 70 F.

Seasonal energy consumption was determined by the traditional approach by first correlating energy consumption and outdoor temperature and then normalizing to a full season using long-term average bin weather data. Dynamic hourly response was established by a statistical correlation of hourly gas or electric consumption and outdoor weather data. Both outdoor temperature and solar radiation were found to be important factors. However, the time lag for the effect of outdoor temperature on hourly consumption was found to be shorter than for solar radiation. Finally, the DOE 2.1b simulation model was used to project a seasonal energy coPsumption for the house.

Units: I-P