Some of the important Diagnostic Tools that Elm Energy Group Consultants use to diagnosis your buildings and homes are listed below. These are only part of our “structural medical devices” that allow us to be your home’s doctor and inform you of its current and projected health.

 

 

Blower Door

The easiest way to measure a building’s air-tightness is with a diagnostic tool called a Blower Door. The Blower Door is a powerful, calibrated fan that is temporarily sealed into an exterior doorway. The fan creates a slight pressure difference between inside and outside, simulating a constant wind on all sides and surfaces of the building. The pressure difference forces air through all the cracks, holes and penetrations in the building envelope, allowing them to be discovered by the auditor and other participants in the building during the test. Blower Door tests are typically performed at a pressure difference of 50 Pascal, which is approximately a 20mph wind.

By measuring the airflow through the fan and its effect on the air pressure in the building simultaneously, the Blower Door measures the air-tightness of the entire building envelope. The tighter the building (i.e. fewer holes), the less air you need from the Blower Door fan to create this change in building pressure.

 

Air-tightness measurements are presented numerically in several different formats including:

 

    * Square inches of leakage area

    * Airflow required to create 50 Pa of pressure difference (CFM50)

 

In addition to assessing the overall air tightness of the building envelope, the Blower Door can be used to estimate the amount of leakage between the conditioned space of the building and attached structural components such as garages, attics and crawlspaces. This zonal pressure testing helps the consultant define the building envelope and efficiently identify where to focus and how to best improve the building. Since the Blower Door forces air through every opening, these problem spots are easier to find using chemical smoke, an infrared camera or simply feeling with your hand. 

 

The small investment made to have a comprehensive audit completed can normally pay for itself with minimal retrofitting effort or expense. This level of analysis helps ensure the effective use of time and money. We don’t guess! Blower doors are important diagnostic tools that help us achieve positive results and recommendations you can rely on.

 

The Duct Blaster is basically a small blower door system that is used to test the air tightness of the ducts (air distribution system) in the buildings. We test the ducts by pressurizing them to 25 pascals. We aim for leakage rate results around 5% or less of the conditioned square footage served. The average home’s duct leakage percentage is approximately 30% and the Energy Star requirement is less than 6%. With all of the problems that are created from leaky ducts, and the extra energy consumed, it is simple to see why sealing the duct system is one of the quickest and surest ways to increase the comfort, health and durability of your home while saving money at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

The use of an IR Camera for energy analysis is a valuable tool in helping locate missing or damaged insulation, hard to detect air leakage points within the building envelope, air leakage around windows and doors, water leaks in flat roofs, potential electrical issues and other building related problems. Under the right conditions, the thermal imager can detect moisture problems as a result of condensation or bulk water.

 

Thermal cameras perform the task of detecting building issues cost-effectively without widespread destructive testing. 

 

This is one more important tool that Elm Energy Group consultants use to give us the best opportunity to diagnosis your buildings carefully, enabling us to provide you with the accurate and dependable information you can act upon. Contrary to what is demonstrated on TV, the infrared cameras do not look through walls, but instead sense the heat energy that everything on earth emits. Infrared light IS NOT harmful. 

 

Let Elm Energy Group use its infrared eyes to help you visually see heat transfer in the world around you.