Blower Door Test

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Many homes in Vancouver aren’t nearly as energy efficient as they could be. Air leaks in the building envelope, lack of insulation, poorly sealed ducts, and more can cause a home to consume much more energy than necessary. At CEI, we offer blower door testing to help homeowners better understand how air leakage is affecting their homes.
A blower door test assesses home airtightness by identifying and measuring air leakage in your home. At the start of a blower door test, a blower door unit, which consists of a nylon frame and an attached fan, is fitted into the entry door frame of your home. All of the home’s windows and doors (aside from the entry door) are then closed, and all heating and cooling systems are shut off. Then, the fan of the blower door unit pulls air out of your home, creating a negative air pressure atmosphere indoors. Air from the high pressure environment outdoors is then drawn into the home through any unwanted cracks and gaps. At this point, a gauge on the blower door unit measures exactly how much air is leaking into your home in CFM (cubic feet per minute). This gauge also calculates the rate of air leakage in your home. A blower door test tells you in great detail how air leakage is affecting your home. It can alert you about upgrades your home needs for better efficiency, such as additional insulation or air sealing. The blower door test is a central component of a comprehensive home energy audit, which looks at HVAC efficiency, heating and cooling loads, insulation, humidity levels, room to room airflow, and more. Ultimately, an energy audit and blower door test can help you make decisions that boost energy savings and maximize comfort in your home.
At CEI, we pride ourselves on offering homeowners in Washington and Oregon a variety of services that will make their homes more energy efficient. Whether you have questions about air leakage, insulation, HVAC, energy assessments, or indoor quality, we have the solutions you are looking for. Don’t hesitate to contact us so our experts can help you maximize energy savings in your home.

BC ENERGY STEP CODE

A High-Performance Staircase

The Energy Step Code is a voluntary provincial standard enacted in April 2017 that provides an incremental and consistent approach to achieving more energy-efficient buildings that go beyond the requirements of the base BC Building Code. It does so by establishing a series of measurable, performance-based energy-efficiency requirements for construction that builders can choose to build to, and communities may voluntarily choose to adopt in bylaws and policies.

The Step Code takes a new, performance-based approach rather than the traditional prescriptive approach. The BC Energy Step Code does not specify how to construct a building, but identifies an energy-efficiency target that must be met and lets the designer/builder decide how to meet it.

To comply with the Step Code, builders must use energy modelling software and on-site testing to demonstrate that both their design and the constructed building meet the requirements of the Step Code. The new standard empowers builders to pursue innovative, creative, cost-effective solutions, and allows them to incorporate leading-edge technologies as they come available.

The Step Code also supports consumer choice, by allowing designers and builders to use natural gas, electricity, or other energy sources for their project without imposing a penalty on this decision. This fuel-neutral approach provides builders with the flexibility to make energy-efficient buildings using all available technologies.