The blower door test is a simple yet extremely efficient way to measure the quantity of air entering a building and also where to find the air leakage areas.By performing this test, we are able to know the amount of cold air that is entering the building and to find and seal the air leakage areas.
To perform this test we use a blower door that is attached to one of the external doors of the building.This device is equipped with a large fan and a nylon door that replaces the current door of the building thus allowing the fan to blow air to the outside.
When in operation the first step of the blower door test is to measure the quantity of air per minute necessary to maintain an established constant pressure.This is done using a digital manometer that measures the pressure in Pa (pascals) and then air flow in cubic feet per minute. We repeat the above step using various levels of pressure.These values are then used to determine the air leakage ratio and the effective size of whole of the building.
Le second part of the test consists of setting the blower door to a constant pressure.The inspector will then walk around the building to find the areas of air infiltration.These areas are taken into account for the final analysis.
Advantages Of A Blower Door Test
On average a blower door test will take about 2 hours to perform. The customer is invited to participate in the study and to converse with the inspector as the study progresses. The study is completed with the delivery of a written report with pictures send by email within 48 hours. A full printed colour version is also sent by mail a few days following.
