A home energy assessment, including a blower door test, is a valuable tool for identifying and addressing energy efficiency issues in your home. This assessment helps pinpoint areas of air leakage and insulation deficiencies, allowing for targeted improvements.
Green Attic Insulation offers a comprehensive assessment that includes a blower door test and thermal imaging to provide homeowners with a whole-house understanding of air movement and energy loss.
From helping reduce moisture condensation to preventing contaminants from entering your home, the blower door test is very helpful for energy-saving improvements.
Housing buying preferences have evolved over the past decade, with most people placing a greater focus on energy-saving homes.
As the cost of living across the world generally increases, it only makes sense to cut back on your utility bills.
If you live in Chicago, then you should consider making energy efficiency improvements to your home.
The first step is to conduct a home energy audit and know what aspects of your home’s energy usage should be reduced.
Are you curious about what the blower door test is and how to get one done?
Here’s an overview of the important terms and the huge role Green Attic plays in providing quality professional services.
What Is A Blower Door Test As Energy Audit?
A home energy audit is a comprehensive assessment that reveals your home’s energy consumption, efficiency, and safety.
The audit occurs in the form of several tests that expose air leaks and determine the efficiency of energy systems in a building.
At Green Attic, you can get a professional blower door test for as low as $250 on buildings less than 3000 sq ft.
Compared to several other options that cost up to $500, Green Attic offers you expert and affordable services.
- The test measures air leakage and identifies drafts by creating negative pressure in the house and detecting air infiltration through gaps and cracks.
- Infrared thermal imaging cameras are used to visually display and photograph insulation levels and identify cold or hot spots in walls, ceilings, and floors.
- The test helps locate the worst air leaks, allowing for targeted sealing and insulation improvements.
- Minimum ventilation requirements are calculated to ensure proper indoor air quality.
Who Can Perform an Energy Audit?
Residents of Illinois typically have access to the Home Energy Saver tool, which is an online audit platform.
There, you can calculate the energy use in your building based on metrics like appliances as well as cooling and lighting systems.
This tool is only available for residential areas and does not consider many non-appliance contributors to energy consumption.
On the other hand, certified energy auditors analyze residential and commercial buildings. They conduct checks on insulation levels, HVAC, and general airtightness.
Steps Involved in a Home Energy Audit
Generally, there are three aspects to any energy audit.
- The first is the evaluation, which involves a walk-through of the building to highlight appliances and systems that use up energy.
- Afterward, auditors conduct an air tightness test. Also known as the blower door test, this process checks for air leakage and seals up cracks.
- Lastly, you’ll get recommendations on how to improve your energy efficiency.
Benefits Of Blower Door Test
The blower door test is the second step in every home energy audit.
- Thermal imaging is a non-invasive method that helps diagnose heat loss in winter and heat intrusion in summer.
- By making the invisible visible, thermal imaging reveals areas with missing insulation and the impact on heat loss or gain.
- It helps identify electrical faults, insulation deficiencies, water and moisture intrusion, energy loss, and potential structural defects.
- Infrared images assist in recommending actions for improvements and estimating the costs of services such as insulation, air sealing, and more.
During this process, there is a considerable difference in the pressure on both sides of the house.
Auditors also retrieve information about the air tightness of the building from the difference in pressure and volume of air moving from the building.
Blower door tests are useful to determine if mechanical ventilation is necessary to improve the quality of air within the building.
Addressing Air Leakage and Insulation Deficiencies
Unintentional gaps in the building envelope, such as around windows, doors, and baseboards, contribute to air leakage.
The auditor conducts a thorough inspection, walking through the home under normal living conditions, to identify areas of concern.
The blower door test and thermal scan help prioritize treatment solutions and create an action plan for exterior sealing and insulation improvements.
Green Attic Insulation offers a range of products and application methods for effective air sealing, both interior and exterior.
Treatment solutions may involve collaboration with specialists from various fields, such as attic insulation, handyman services, painters, or siding contractors.
What Equipment is Used in a Home Blower Door Test?
As the name suggests, the main equipment for an air tightness test is the blower door.
This equipment is essentially a flexible frame with a variable-speed fan that covers a doorway and pulls air out of the house.
A blower door can either be calibrated or uncalibrated.
While uncalibrated doors only detect leaks, their calibrated counterparts are equipped with gauges to measure the air flow coming out of the building from the fan.
Calibrated doors are the most common type used by top-quality energy auditors like Green Attic.
It consists of different parts that work together to provide seamless functionality. This includes the fan, a temporary seal, infrared camera and a pressure monitor.
Here are the major functions of these components:
- The fan comes with a very powerful variable speed feature that sucks air by creating negative pressure in the house’s interior.
- To prevent air from escaping, a dense cloth seal is usually a part of the home blower door equipment. It is mounted around the door frame while the far is inserted into it.
- Infrared Camera: This camera allows auditors to see through walls and detect leaky areas or parts of the house without insulation
- Pressure Monitor: Auditors require this device to get information about the level of air within the home as well as the speed at which air leaks.
Green Attic Chicago Home Energy Contractor
If you’re in Illinois and would like a comprehensive energy audit on your building, you should contact Green Attic.
The company has a broad range of experience in ensuring that your building stays energy efficient and provides you with the best comfort.
Cut back on your heating bill by up to 50% when you schedule a Green Attic blower door test today.
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