Sunday, September 28, 2014

Manual J Resources



Are you looking for materials to teach load calculations? ACCA has free excel spread sheets they call speed sheets. You can download them from their web site. They also offer a curriculum for studying Manual J8, also free from ACCA. You do have to buy either Manual J8 or Manual J8 abridged to take full advantage of these. If you are looking for load studies coverage in a text, “Fundamentals of HVACR, 2nd ed” has a complete Unit on residential load studies. It includes examples using Manual J8 while working on a complete block load for a small house. Other Resources include Wright-Soft’s Right-J program or Elite Software’s RHVAC program. These are two very full featured commercial programs which are used a good deal in the industry. The good news is that you can download and use demo versions of them for free. Typically, there are a few limitations on the free download versions, such as not saving the files. However, you get a chance to try them out before purchase.

For teaching, I really like the ACCA Manual J Speedsheets. They are not too hard to learn, and I believe that students get a better understanding of Manual J because they do have to use the manual some to use the software. I also like the Manual D Speedsheet for ductwork. Both of these are a little limited – they are mainly for use in residential systems that are not too complex. But that is exactly where our students should be starting. We typically have our students do a block load on a small cabin and a room by room load on a 3 bedroom ranch style house. They then do a radial duct design on the cabin and an extended plenum on the ranch house. You will want to spend some time with the speedsheets before giving them to students. Although they are not difficult, there you do need to go through one a couple of times to feel completely comfortable. The instructions are in the sheets and there are ample examples on every tab. Links to the  resources mentioned are


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