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Corridor A/C

M

Michael Brown

Sawhorse
Joined
Mar 27, 2017
Messages
34
Location
Covington, GA
12 unit, 3 story apartment building, 4 units per floor. The engineer has placed a small duct from three of the four apartments into the corridor for conditioning. They show fire dampers at each penetration which probably should be fire/smoke dampers. This duct placement almost guarantees negative pressure and the problems that will cause in the apartments. What I can't find is any code that specifically addresses this installation. Preferably against.
 
What code edition are you using?

How are the corridors ventilated?

Do the HVAC units have sufficient outside air capabilities to ventilate the corridors while all the bathroom fans, kitchen hoods, and dryers are operating simultaneously?
 
Mech said:
What code edition are you using?

How are the corridors ventilated?

Do the HVAC units have sufficient outside air capabilities to ventilate the corridors while all the bathroom fans, kitchen hoods, and dryers are operating simultaneously?
Click to expand...
Florida Building Code 7th edition 2020

There is no other ventilation in the corridors except for the ducts from the apartments.

There is an outside air duct that appears to be sized to make up for the air supplied to the corridors (4 inch) but there is no allowance for the bath exhaust fans. There are two - two bedroom units with two bath fans and two - one bedroom units with one bath fan on each floor. There is no kitchen exhaust but there is a dryer duct.
 
Not familiar with Florida codes, but the straight IMC requires mechanical ventilation for apartments unless they can show sufficient air leakage. Any fresh air duct to the apartment air handler would have to be large enough to provide ventilation air for the apartment plus the portion that will be going to the apartment.

Other than that issue and the fire/smoke dampers you already noted, I don't think there are any actual code violations unless you consider the dwelling units and corridors dissimilar occupancies. Just a violation of common sense!
 
Michael Brown said:
12 unit, 3 story apartment building, 4 units per floor. The engineer has placed a small duct from three of the four apartments into the corridor for conditioning. They show fire dampers at each penetration which probably should be fire/smoke dampers. This duct placement almost guarantees negative pressure and the problems that will cause in the apartments. What I can't find is any code that specifically addresses this installation. Preferably against.
Click to expand...
So 3 of the 4 tenants get to pay for conditioning the COMMON SPACE? Is that expense reflected in their lease?
How come#4 doesn't contribute?

How about the cross talk from hallway into PRIVATE Dwelling Unit or reverse?
HMMM Seems like the Tenants may have some concerns with their design approach

Seems also without a commercial alarm system that controls the opening and closing of those dampers, the hallway safety is potentially compromised. Fire damper is not enough to control hall pressurization to slow down any smoke from the unit, way before the heat melts the link and shut down the path

You have a lot of ammunition to reject this design approach me thinks
 
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