For years Air Quality Specialists has located and sealed obvious leaks in ducts in an effort to prevent energy waste and dust infiltration. We now have additional tools and training to aid in the improvement of your indoor air quality.

Our Training and BPI Certification

We maintain BPI (Building Pressure Institute) Certifications in order to maintain the integrity of our testing, allowing us to participate in the unprecedented funding for residential energy efficiency retrofit work and weatherization assistance programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Many of these programs require use the services of BPI certified professionals, because they know they will get quality work with a good return on investment. In fact, the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites BPI or equivalent for equivalent for individual certification. The tried and tested standards for home performance work using the house-as-a-system approach allows you to prioritize repairs. We'll be able to trace problems to their root causes, prescribe real solutions and get the job done right – the first time.

Blower Door Tests
Our BPI Certified Professional energy auditors use blower door tests to help determine a home's airtightness. This testing is effective in:

• Reducing energy consumption due to air leakage
• Avoiding moisture condensation problems
• Avoiding uncomfortable drafts caused by cold air leaking in from the outdoors
• Making sure that the home's air quality is not too contaminated by indoor air pollution.

How It Works
A blower door is a powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed cracks and openings. The auditors may use a smoke pencil to detect air leaks. These tests determine the air infiltration rate of a building.

Blower doors consist of a frame and flexible panel that fit in a doorway, a variable-speed fan, a pressure gauge to measure the pressure differences inside and outside the home, and an airflow manometer and hoses for measuring airflow.

There are two types of blower doors: calibrated and uncalibrated. Air Quality Specialists use a calibrated door. This type of blower door has several gauges that measure the amount of air pulled out of the house by the fan. Uncalibrated blower doors can only locate leaks in homes. They provide no method for determining the overall tightness of a building. The calibrated blower door's data allow us to quantify the amount of air leakage and the effectiveness of any air-sealing job.

The DLT (Duct Leakage Tester)
Our BPI certified Techs use a smaller device to measure the leaks in the HVAC system only. This unit also consists of a fan, manometers and measuring devices. This is also a calibrated test, generating a report on the amount of leakage in the system.

Testing usually takes about 1 to 1 ½ hours for an average sized ranch home with one system. Grills and registers do not have to be removed, but simply sealed with a pressure sensitive tape. After sealing the grills and registers the DLT is simply connected by hose and an adapter plate to a return or supply grill (or the front of the air handler/furnace).

The DLT offers easy set-up and translation of data using a laptop computer. This will generate either an easy to read homeowner report or a more detailed technical report.

These testing services are available at an additional charge. Call today to schedule a Consultation to determine what is right for you!