Airtightness / Blower door test
A blower door test is a way to measure air leakage in a home; It is designed to check for air leaks in walls, attics, and mechanical penetrations. A blower door test is a diagnostic test which depressurizes or pressurizes the home to identify leaks and issues with the air barrier. The only way to know whether your home is leaky or tight is to measure its air leakage rate with a blower door.It can reveal drafty walls and air-bypass situations that could undermine otherwise well insulated wall assemblies. Blower door tests are performed by certified energy advisors to determine to what degree a home is airtight. The places where air leaks into a house are often hidden from view and hard to find. A “blower door” equipped with a powerful fan is mounted into the frame of front or back door, and when the fan is turned on, it sucks the air out of the house and blows it outside. By doing this, the house lacks the air and try to bring the air inside the house, so energy advisor can determine the cracks, gaps and penetrations that are leaking.Since the blower door forces air through cracks and holes, the locations of the leaky spots can be identified. The draft of air entering through the holes and cracks can be felt with the hand.
Advantage of air sealing
Reducing air leakage is usually the most cost-effective measure a homeowner can undertake; the leakier the home, the greater the savings! It is not unusual for air leakage to account for 35% of the heat loss in a home. In addition to reducing heat loss, air sealing improves comfort, protects the building structure and other materials from moisture damage, and reduces the amount of dust and noise that enters from the outdoors. Air sealing can also reduce air conditioning loads and energy costs. Leaky homes are hard to heat and hard to cool. A poorly sealed houses will have higher utility bills, issues with comfort, and potential mold and rot issues caused by moisture. Air leakage account for 25-30% of energy waste when heating and cooling a building. Air sealing a house increases your comfort by reducing the drafts in a house. You will lower energy bills automatically by air sealing and caulking due to the fact that there should be less leaks in and out of the house.
After doing the energy audit You’ll get a full report including:
Evaluation Report
EnerGuide Lable
Homeowner Information Sheet
Evaluation Report
After the energy efficiency advisor’s visit, you’ll receive the energy evaluation report. This document will guide you what you need to upgrade and improve and might also serve as a discussion tool if you need to contact a contractor. The assessment report covers all aspects of a home that relate to energy efficiency including air tightness, the performance of heating, the performance of insulation, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and the energy consumption habits of the occupants. It shows you where to make improvements and possible ways to save energy in your home and tips on how to do it. Some of these recommendations will be eligible for financial assistance under the Enbridge home Efficiency rebate Program.
EnerGuide Lable
After assessing your house and along with energy report you will receive the EnerGuide label of your house which indicate the energy performance of your house in gigajoules.
The label shows how your home’s performance compares to a benchmark home. The label showsproportion of energy consumed by heating, cooling, ventilation, etc. The lower the number on the new EnerGuide scale, the better the energy performance of your home.
The label shows your home’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
An EnerGuide label is an official record of your home’s energy performance, and may help increase its resale value.EnerGuide is an official mark of Natural Resources Canada
Homeowner Information Sheet
After energy evaluation of your home, you will receive a homeowner information sheet which is a report rating your house base on standard operating conditions. In addition to giving you information about the rating calculation, greenhouse gas emissions, the energy breakdown, and areas where heat loss occurs, the homeowner information sheet provides a full range of details about your home and a road map how to upgrade your house and the priority of each one.
This report will tell you how much energy you will save after doing the recommended upgrades.
Your energy advisor additional comments, elaborating on your specific recommended upgrades are provided in this report which will help you to upgrade your house efficiently.
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