If you’re having a home energy audit conducted, a blower door test likely will be an important part of this home assessment. This test will establish how airtight your Hamel, Illinois home is. This means that you can identify places where warm air can leak into your interior from the outside in the summer and leak out in the winter. By doing so, it will help to:
- Greatly reduce the energy consumption associated with air leakage
- Eliminate drafts that cause discomfort
- Eliminate moisture condensation issues
- Determine what level of mechanical ventilation will be necessary for optimal air quality
A blower door apparatus is essentially a strong fan with a flexible panel that’s mounted to the frame of an exterior door. Once the device is attached, it will also be necessary to utilize a pressure gauge to take accurate readings of the difference in pressure both outside and inside. Finally, an airflow manometer and specialized hoses can be hooked up to measure the actual airflow.
How it’s done
When the test is conducted, the fan will pull air out from the house in order to lower the indoor pressure. This paves the way for the higher pressure air from outside to rush into the interior through any unsealed openings or cracks across the exterior of the dwelling. During the process, both the pressure gauge and manometer will be taking constant measurements to test for both pressure and airflow. Finally, a smoke pencil can be used to easily identify where the air leaks are coming from so your or your technician will know where air sealing needs to be done.
 Professionals can help
To conduct such an involved test, contact the professionals at Ernst Heating & Cooling. We have been helping the citizens of southwest Illinois since 1951 – including in the communities of Hamel, Troy and Bethalto.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Hamel, Alton, Glen Carbon, Highland, Greenville, and Troy, Illinois and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy evaluations and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.Â
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