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The first blower door was further used to test the airtightness of the Saskatchewan Conservation House built in 1977, which was tested at 0.5 ach at 50 Pa. These early research efforts demonstrated the potential power of blower door testing in revealing otherwise unaccounted for energy losses in homes.
A third test method to determine if ductwork is leaking to the outside is to use a pressure pan, which is a register cover with a pressure tap for a hose connection. With the house pressurized (or depressurized) to 50 Pa (-50 Pa) using a blower door, a pressure gauge is attached to the pressure pan by means of a hose.
The most common technique to measure airtightness is the fan pressurization method, also known as the blower door test. It is measured by the number of air changes per hour (ACH) that occur when there is a differential pressure of 50 pascals between outside and inside the building.
A blower door test can be used to test the quality of the air sealing of the building envelope. Smoke pencils can be used to detect gaps and caulking and weather-stripping can be used to improve air sealing. [10]
An energy audit may therefore include an interview of the homeowners to understand their patterns of use over time. The energy billing history from the local utility company can be calibrated using heating degree day and cooling degree day data obtained from recent, local weather data in combination with the thermal energy model of the building ...
Smoke candles and blower-door tests can help identify less-than-obvious leaks. The Weatherization article describes methods for energy savings further. If infiltration is reduced below 0.35 ACH, it is recommended that mechanical ventilation (typically an exhaust fan or heat recovery ventilation ) be implemented.
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The initial concept involved the use of a "blower window," which was first utilized by G.T. Tamura in Ottawa, Canada, as part of the NRC/DBR to test houses in 1967-68 and published in 1975. In Sweden, the earliest implementation of blower door technology used a fan mounted in a window around 1977[4].