The requirements of 5.4.3.4 (ASHRAE 90.1-2007) are very strict. My team is trying to certify a shopping mall with many shops opening directly to the outside. According to ASHRAE there is a requirement for many of the shops to install a vestibule or a revolving door.
The building owner is not willing to install such equipment and asks instead of installing air curtains.
There are some papers describing, that air curtains can be better than vestibules.
Does anyone of you have experience on using air curtains instead of vestibules in a LEED v3 Project?
Thank you very much.
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Christopher Schaffner
CEO & FounderThe Green Engineer
LEEDuser Expert
963 thumbs up
February 16, 2011 - 9:01 am
There is a reason ASHRAE requires vestibules - the infiltration from a door can be enormous in a cold climate. Bad for energy, bad for comfort.
If you don't meet the exceptions in 90.1. I'm afraid you are out of luck. Codes and standards require lots of things owners don't like to pay for (insulation, sprinklers, well marked means of egress, adequate structure, etc.).
In my experience, air curtains don't work very well, and they certainly don't add to the customer "experience".