Blower Door Test

What Is An Air Leak?

Houses leak air because of the difference between indoor and outdoor air pressure. Imagine your house as a hot air balloon. The biggest pressure differences are high and low in a building. Holes in these areas typically leak more air than holes in the middle. Warm air rises and leaks out any unsealed areas at the top of the building. Leaks inward tend to be at the bottom of the structure, pulling in cool air. We test for these air leaks using the blower door test.

How Does it Affect Me?

The heating equipment takes about 15¢ from every dollar of energy cost to operate itself. The house takes the remaining 85¢. While increasing heating equipment energy efficiency is worthwhile, the major saving is found in controlling heat loss from your house. This means that allowing your heating system to run as efficiently as possible will save a lot of money!

What Is a Blower Door Test?

The blower door test places a home under a known pressure and then measures how much airflow is required to maintain the pressure difference between indoors and outdoors. The tighter the house, the less air the blower door must move to maintain a given pressure.

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How Does It Work?

Step 1: Finding Air Leaks

To conduct a blower door test, technicians close all openings within the heated area of the house. They then seal a special, powerful fan within an exterior-door opening. The fan pulls air from the house. Using gauges and calculations, our technicians can help you identify where the leaks are!

Step 2: Fixing Air Leaks

The homeowner or contractor seals the identified leaks with materials that include foam, acrylic adhesive tape commonly used to tape air barriers, acoustical sealant, polyurethane caulk, polyethylene sheet, and rigid foam.

Step 3: Verification

The final phase is verification. After leaks are sealed, the blower door test can be repeated to measure improvement on the air tightness of the home. It may point out an area or two that needs more sealing, or it may confirm that the job has been done well.