Blower Door Test Formation
A blower door is a machine used to measure the airtightness of buildings.
Blower door test formation. These pages describes how to build a pretty good blower door for about 30. The second part of this series will pick up with our blower door test from the moment we turn on the manometer. Understanding blower door test results. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings.
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. 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. The following will help you conduct your.
Enjoy the videos and music you love upload original content and share it all with friends family and the world on youtube. The 20mph wind is equivalent to 50 pascals pa of pressure difference. The blower door test simulates wind blowing against a building at 20 miles per hour in which case the total volume of air within the house would be exchanged with outside air 7 times. It can also be used to measure airflow between building zones to test ductwork airtightness and to help physically locate air leakage sites in the building envelope.
Test results and sample test forms basic airtightness test results airtightness test results can be presented in a number of standardized formats. Whether you are performing a blower door test as part of the iecc prescriptive path requirements or part of a hers rating or just for knowledge as part of an energy audit work with a professional experienced testing company. Air leakage at 50 pascals cfm50 cfm50 is the airflow in cubic feet per minute from the blower door fan needed to create a change in building pressure of 50 pascals 0 2 inches of water column. A blower door fan simulates these conditions during a test.
There are three primary components to a blower door. The auditors may use a smoke pencil to detect air leaks. 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. You can use it to 1 find air infiltration leaks into your house 2 trace your progress in sealing the house 3 estimate your infiltration flow at 50 pa a blower door standard and compare it to other homes 4 estimate your heat loss due to infiltration and 5 estimate fuel saving and co2 reduction from air.
A blower door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door.