Blower Door Test

@capitalhomeenergy stopped by this week to conduct a pre drywall blower door test.

The famous ‘red door’ used for these tests consists of a frame, sealed red tarp, pressure gauge and a calibrated fan that, once turned on, draws air out of the house to create a pressure difference. Thermal imaging and smoke are then used to help identify any air leakage points.

Blower door test results are measured in “air changes per hour” (ACH). That is the number of times the volume of air within a home gets replaced (or leaks) each hour. The lower the ACH, the better the air tightness! This matters because when you are spending energy/$ to heat or cool your house, you don’t want that conditioned air leaking out through gaps and cracks in the envelope.

Older homes built before the 1970’s will typically have air leakage rates of 8-12 ACH. Our pre construction blower door test came in at 9.37 ACH @ 50pa (see May 8 2022 post). BC building code requires ACH of 2.5 or less for Step 3 new construction. The standard for net zero homes is ACH 1.5 and Passive House is 0.6 ACH.

At mid-construction, pre drywall, our house came in at 1.11 ACH @ 50pa. Great result!

Very cool to see the mento air barrier doing its job literally trapping the air like a balloon. A few minor areas for improvement but we are right on track ✅✅

#netzero #netzerohomes #greenbuilding #sustainability #blowerdoortest #airtightness #ach