BLOWER DOOR & DUCT TESTING

A major component of wasted home energy is infiltration/exfiltration.  This is the constant process of conditioned air escaping from the house and outside air entering the house to replace the lost air.  This happens 24 hours a day, 365 days a year due to stack effect, wind washing and mechanically induced pressures in your home.

A blower door test will measure just how much air is leaking under controlled conditions.  That quantity can then be compared to industry standards of how much air flow is required for the health, safety and comfort of the house.

 

 

 

But this isn’t the whole picture.  In homes with forced air duct system, much of the energy lost through infiltration/exfiltration is lost through those systems.  This is because the air is warmer or cooler than the general house so each cubic foot lost represents a larger energy bite.  It is also because these systems are pressurized so more air flows through the same size hole.  But probably the biggest reason is that leaks in ducted systems will either pressurize or de-pressurize your home with respect to the outdoors.

A duct de-pressurization test is like a blower door test for ducts.

 

 

 

Phone: 215-793-9783

Fax: 215-793-9784

E-mail: dougsmithman@gmail.com

Copyright ã 2010 by Douglas K. Smithman, P.E.  All rights reserved.  Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without prior written permission of Douglas K. Smithman.

Old Chinese proverb:

No single raindrop considers itself responsible for the flood.

 

Green living begins at home

 

215-793-9783