Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Basics
Testing, adjusting and balancing of commercial air systems, followed through a third-year apprentice in a Cleveland sheet metal contractor's TAB group: certification programs and the TAB process, air pressures and density, fans, fan laws and system curves, instruments and calibration, duct traverses, outlet and hood readings, proportional balancing, VAV terminals and static pressure set points, sheaves, drives and motors, pressure relationships in isolation rooms, kitchens and whole buildings, TAB reports and commissioning, and a capstone balancing a school library system.
SMW-330 12 lessons · 3 h 49 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Sheet Metal
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Explain what testing, adjusting and balancing involves, where it sits between installation and commissioning, and how certification programs and procedural standards govern the work
- Relate static, velocity and total pressure, convert velocity pressure to velocity and airflow, and correct readings for air density
- Read fan curves and system curves, find the operating point, apply the fan laws and recognize system effect and unstable fan operation
- Select, use, field-check and keep calibrated the manometers, pitot tubes, anemometers, capture hoods, tachometers and electrical meters used in TAB
- Lay out and carry out log-Tchebycheff and log-linear duct traverses in suitable locations and calculate average velocity and airflow correctly
- Measure outlet airflows with capture hoods, face velocity and area factors, and branch traverses, and check the readings against each other
- Balance constant-volume systems by the proportional method, from the index outlet back to the fan, and recognize restrictions that dampers cannot fix
- Verify and set VAV terminal airflows, flow coefficients and static pressure set points with the controls contractor, and check outdoor and return air
- Change fan speed with sheaves or drives after checking the motor and reducing avoidable losses, and set belt alignment and tension
- Set and verify offsets and pressure relationships for isolation rooms, kitchens, laboratories and whole buildings
- Prepare and check a TAB report, write and track deficiencies, and coordinate with hydronic balancing, controls and commissioning
- Plan and complete the balance of a constant-volume system from design review to an accepted report and follow-up after occupancy
Course content
12 lessons · 3 h 49 min total · final exam
- 1 Testing, adjusting and balancing and the people who do it 19 min · quiz
- 2 Air pressure and airflow principles 20 min · quiz
- 3 Fans, fan laws and system curves 19 min · quiz
- 4 Measurement instruments and calibration 19 min · quiz
- 5 Duct traverses 19 min · quiz
- 6 Outlet and hood readings 19 min · quiz
- 7 Proportional balancing 19 min · quiz
- 8 Balancing variable-air-volume systems and terminal units 19 min · quiz
- 9 Fan adjustments, drives and motors 19 min · quiz
- 10 Building pressure and special spaces 19 min · quiz
- 11 TAB reports, hydronic coordination and commissioning 19 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: balancing the Ashgrove library system 19 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Testing, adjusting and balancing of commercial air systems, followed through a third-year apprentice in a Cleveland sheet metal contractor's TAB group: certification programs and the TAB process, air pressures and density, fans, fan laws and system curves, instruments and calibration, duct traverses, outlet and hood readings, proportional balancing, VAV terminals and static pressure set points, sheaves, drives and motors, pressure relationships in isolation rooms, kitchens and whole buildings, TAB reports and commissioning, and a capstone balancing a school library system.