Four Palm Harbor Texas Plants Energy Star Certified
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Palm
Harbor Modular Model 48F9, Austin, TX |
As of June 2003, all four Palm Harbor Homes plants in Texas are certified for production of Energy Star labled manufactured homes. BAIHP personnel visited each plant to review current practices and randomly tested 20 homes in the field to verify they meet Energy Star qualifications. The plants are located in Ft. Worth, Burleson, Austin and Buda, Texas.
Field Testing
Homes with floor duct systems are produced at each plant, however two plants are currently producing homes with both ceiling and floor ducts (Austin & Ft.Worth). Palm Harbor’s Austin plant has also begun producing modular homes and two were tested on this trip, one at a sales lot and another installed at an urban in-fill project site in Austin (photo above).
Field
Tested Homes by Factory & Duct Type |
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Duct
Location |
Austin |
Buda |
Ft.
Worth |
Burleson |
Ceiling |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Floor |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
Many of the field tests were performed at PHH sales lots where homes from every factory were available. Some recently installed homes at the lot had carpet still pulled back at the marriage line and unfinished wall and ceiling joints and several homes did not have the crossovers installed on the duct system. Blower Door testing on these homes showed airtightness was similar to that of a finished home proving the effectiveness of Palm Harbor’s foam marriage-line gasket. The 20 homes averaged 5.52 ACH50 of envelope leakage.
Duct testing included both total leakage and leakage to the outside. Those homes without crossovers were tested at each individual section. All duct systems tested met the Palm Harbor requirement of 3% leakage to the outside with respect to floor area.
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In-plant
Duct Blaster Testing, Buda, TX |
Plant Visits
All Palm Harbor factories have duct leakage testing equipment and trained personnel to test each duct system in every home produced. At each Texas plant, BAIHP personnel compared field-tested results with factory records and in every case, the factory numbers were consistent with BAIHP field measurements.
Each plant adopted its own in-plant duct testing method. Burleson & Buda tested each floor individually on the factory floor soon after the ducts were installed, while the other plants tested in the function test area just before shipping the home. In each case a dedicated person or small crew was responsible for duct testing. Several tests were observed at each factory to ensure proper readings were being recorded. Each observed test met the 3% duct leakage limit specified by Palm Harbor, that is, 3 CFM of air for each 100 square feet of floor area measured at 25 Pascals of pressure.
Project
Leads:
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