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Blower Door test
Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home's airtightness. These are some reasons for establishing the proper building tightness via home energy audits:
- Reducing energy consumption due to air leakage
- Avoiding moisture condensation problems
- Avoiding uncomfortable drafts caused by cold air leaking in from the outdoors
- Making sure that the home's air quality is not too contaminated by indoor air pollution.
How They Work
A blower door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings. The auditors may use a smoke pencil to detect air leaks. These tests determine the air infiltration rate of a building.
Blower doors consist of a frame and flexible panel that fit in a doorway, a variable-speed fan, a pressure gauge to measure the pressure differences inside and outside the home, and an airflow manometer and hoses for measuring airflow.
There are two types of blower doors: calibrated and uncalibrated. It is important that auditors use a calibrated door. This type of blower door has several gauges that measure the amount of air pulled out of the house by the fan. Uncalibrated blower doors can only locate leaks in homes.
Preparing for a Blower Door Test
Take the following steps to prepare your home for a blower door test:
- Close windows and open interior doors
- Turn down the thermostats on heaters and water heaters
- Cover ashes in wood stoves and fireplaces with damp newspapers
- Shut fireplace dampers, fireplace doors, and wood stove air intakes
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Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home's airtightness. These are some reasons for establishing the proper building tightness:(1) Reducing energy consumption due to air leakage.
Infrared Scanning
Thermography measures surface temperatures by using an Infrared camera. This tool see’s light that is in the heat spectrum. Images on the camera show the temperature variations of the building’s skin, ranging from lighter colors for warm regions to darker colors for cooler areas.