Kenda,
I'm curious as to whether you received any responses to the query below.
I have incorporated a practice of manually setting the site altitude in
my eQuest models to "0," because (1) as designers we do not specify
equipment with CFM's at sea level, it is already "corrected" for
altitude in this sense, and (2) those who review models tend to miss the
significance of the altitude factor in the SV-A reports and complain of
incorrectly entered airflow rates.
I don't know if this constitutes a "best practice," but I know it is
common to a number of the regular contributors to these lists besides
myself. As it stands, current standards (90.1-2007) don't have us
"de-rate" or otherwise adjust required minimum SEER/EER values for
altitude... so inversely it seem appropriate to remove the altitude
variable when modeling for a performance rating... thoughts?
NICK CATON, E.I.T.