Blower Door Test

A blower door test is a way to check how air tight a structure is.

Blower door test. Our energy saver 101 infographic explains the importance of a blower door test during a home energy audit. There are three primary components to a blower door. Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home s airtightness. A blower door is a machine used to measure the airtightness of buildings.

Beginning with the 2012 iecc a maximum air leakage rate is defined and each new home must meet this tightness level verified with a blower door test. Blower door tests are performed by trained and certified energy auditors but a homeowner can conduct a mini test to help pinpoint leaky areas of the home. 1 a calibrated variable speed fan capable of inducing a range of airflows sufficient to. Simply put a blower door is a diagnostic tool used to measure how much air infiltration air leakage occurs in a house.

A blower door test is performed to measure the exact air tightness of a home. As the fan is running a technician can move from room to room throughout the house to detect. Blower door test during a home energy audit. The blower door test.

Holtkamp heating a c inc. The following will help you conduct your. It is designed to check for air leaks in walls attics and mechanical penetrations. Last year we built an energy star home for a customer and we used a blower door test to evaluate the houses air infiltration performance.

While a blower door test does not evaluate how well a structure is insulated it can reveal drafty walls and air bypass situations that could undermine otherwise well insulated wall assemblies. This process will cause outside air to be drawn into the house through leakage points. During this test a calibrated fan is installed in an otherwise sealed door or window while all the other openings to the exterior are closed. A blower door test is used on buildings in order to quantify the amount of air leakage through its enclosure.

To conduct a blower door test an infiltrometer or blower door fan is placed in the main entry doorway to depressurize the house or suck out air from the interior. These are some reasons for establishing the proper building. Knowing a bit about the outside factors that can influence the results will ensure that the test is performed correctly.