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A blower door test is used to determine the air tightness of a home.
A large fan is used to depressurize the house to 50 pascals, the equivalent of a 20 mile an hour wind on all sides of the residence, and can also test results room by room.
The auditor then makes some various calculations from the blower door test in order to give you the results. Below are some terms that the auditor may speak to when referring to the results of a blower door test:
ACH at 50
This refers to Air Changes Per Hour at the 50 pascals. It means that the total volume of air in your home will be replaced 5 times every hour. The lower the number the tighter the exterior envelope of the house is. It is important to note that anything at 2 ACH at 50 and below requires fresh exchange from your HVAC system for health and safety reasons.
CFM at 50
This refers to cubic feet per minute at 50 pascals. It helps the auditor/homeowner understand how much air is moving from the house to the outside. The results of this number are helped to calculate ACH at 50. A tighter sealed envelope is usually under 1250 CFM at 50 and anything above 2500 would be considered a very leaky home.
If the results of your blower door test conclude that you need to focus on air sealing your home, the auditor should work with you to prioritize areas that are the worst.
It is also important to test out your home after any air sealing improvements have been made for health and safety reasons. Schedule a test or energy audit today!
