A Blower Door Test is a test which measures the Air Changes Per Hour of a home or building. Air changes are important because as air that leaks from the building and is changed with new air the new air needs to be heated or cooled. The heating or cooling of the new air is costly and because with increased air changes come increased energy consumption.
We conduct a Blower Door Test by closing all exterior doors in the home and opening all the interior ones. We select one exit door and install a frame with a fan on that door. We use a fan to depressurize the home and an instrument called a nanometer to measure the ACH, (air changes per hour), the amount of times the air changes inside the home in one hour.
Blower Door Testing has become more important in recent years as most states have now adopted the IECC, (International Energy Conservation Codes) requiring a maximum number of air changes per hour. Southeastern Pennsylvania is in IECC energy zone 4 in which allows 3 air changes per hour to pass a Blower Door Test however, The State of Pennsylvania did amend that number to 5.
