What Are Blower Doors and What Are They Used For?

How energy-efficient is your home? You may not know it, but your home might contain numerous air leaks where heat escapes during cold weather and enters during warm weather. This places a strain on your HVAC system and leads to discomfort. Those same air leaks can also bring in moisture and lower your indoor air quality.
The best way to evaluate your home’s airtightness is to schedule an energy audit. An audit, also called a home performance evaluation, will systematically locate where your home is losing energy and find the best ways to seal and insulate it so you’ll save money and protect your indoor environment.

To find professionals who handle energy audits in Glassboro, NJ, contact the team at SPS Mechanical Inc. We specialize in energy-saving solutions for homes.
The key tool for an energy audit: the blower door

To evaluate the airtightness of a home, auditors use a device called a blower door. The standard blower door mounts within the frame of an open door, sealing completely across the aperture so there are no leaks around it. Within the blower door is a large variable speed fan and a pressure monitor called a manometer. During an energy audit, the technicians attach a blower door to the front door of a house. They then make sure that all other doors and windows throughout the house are shut. The blower door fan activates, and it draws air from inside the home to depressurize it; the manometer measures the difference in pressure.

Once the blower door has lowered the pressure inside the house, outside air will rush in through any opening, such as gaps in building material or insulation, and around poorly sealing windows and doors. The auditors move throughout the house and use smoke pencils to detect where air is rushing to enter air leaks. After a blower door test, the auditors will have a good idea of where a home lacks integrity in its heat sealing, and they can start to investigate specific areas.

Energy audits consist of more than the blower door test: excellent auditors will perform an extensive walk-through of the building to note specific points of energy loss and gain. They’ll test the HVAC system and the sealing along the ventilation. They’ll see if all your major appliances (laundry machines, refrigerator) are working at their most efficient. Once they’re done, they will report to you with a list of where your home could improve its efficiency and suggestions on what you can do.

We suggest that everyone have an energy audit done for their home at some point. If you feel that you are paying more on your utility bills than you should, call SPS Mechanical Inc. and ask about our services for energy audits in Glassboro, NJ. We use blower doors and other advanced technology to give homes thorough performance evaluations.