Blower Door Test
Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home's air tightness.
These are some reasons for establishing the proper building tightness:
- 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.
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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.
Home Inspections covering the counties of the San Francisco Bay area such as Solano County, through Contra Costa County , over to Napa County and Sonoma County, Down to Alameda County, San Mateo County and Santa Clara County to the Central Valley of Sacramento County, El Dorado County, and Placer County including Lake Tahoe Homes, and other counties such as Amador County to Calaveras County, Stanislaus County and San Joaquin County and Sutter County, Yolo County, Yuba County, Nevada County and Colusa County. This includes outlyingareas for home inspection services.
Serving: Alameda county, Amador county, Butte county, Contra Costa county, El Dorado county, Glenn county, Marin county, Napa county, Placer county, Sacramento county, San Joaquin county, Santa Clara county, San Mateo county, Solano county, Stanislaus county, Shasta county, Sutter county, Tehama county, Yolo county, Yuba county.
Partial list of cities served: Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, Granite Bay, Elk Grove, Ranch Cordova, South Lake Tahoe, Davis, Woodland, Stockton, Lodi, Galt, Yuba City, Marysville, Vallejo, Vacaville, Fairfield, Concord, Walnut Creek, Napa, Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, San Jose, Santa Clara, Modesto, Tracy, Pleasanton, Santa Rosa, San Rafael, San Francisco, Chico,
Oroville, Red Bluff, Redding, Orland, Corning, Paradise.
Golden State Home Inspections LLC • P.O. Box 658 Folsom, CA. 95763
Member of NACHI-National Association of Certified Home Inspectors
Ca. State Contractor License #913615
Phone: 800.441.0804 • Fax: 530.676.3098
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