E – 1588 – Economizers In Air Handlers

An air-side economizer is an HVAC control system that can provide significant cooling energy savings by using outside air to cool buildings internally. However, many economizers in air handlers today are unfortunately wasting a lot of energy.

So how can you design economizers in air handlers to save the most energy? And how can you use controls and installation, monitoring, and maintenance best practices to help economizers in air handlers meet their full energy-savings potential?

This online HVAC engineering course developed by Steven Liescheidt, PE, CCS, CCPR describes how air-side economizers are used in air handlers serving commercial buildings. It also discusses when and when not to use economizers, how economizers are controlled, how economizers can save or waste energy, what to look for if economizers are not working properly, and other issues related to economizer applications.

Course Reference: “Energy Design Resources – Design Brief – Economizers”. This design brief was prepared for Energy Design Resources by Financial Times Energy, Inc., Boulder, Colorado.

Learning Objectives:

At the successful completion of this course, you’ll be able to identify and discuss:

• What economizers are and how they work
• How to specify economizers
• Principles of operation of economizers
• Terms and definitions related to economizers
• Control of economizers
• When to and when not to use economizers
• How much energy economizers can save or waste