Congrats Matt. Maybe you can do a follow up video that highlights the key considerations that help you dial into a best outcome on the blower test (Windows, sheathing seals, etc - things I know you cover individually in many videos), but also the areas that often might be less under your control that contribute negatively to the outcome?
Matt, are you doing more then one door blower test on your homes, say one before insulation/drywall and one on completion? Would be pretty hard to seal any air leaks that may be happening behind finished work, just wondering.
Wouldn't this test make more sense if it used external area rather than volume? If you double the size of a house, the total external exposed area doesn't increase at nearly the same rate.
I know this was a year ago but your using internal volume as because your of the units internal volume (cubic ft)/ air flow (cubic feet per hour) Cubic feet cancles and your left with Air changes per hour.
Volume(ach@50pa) is just easier to explain to the masses. People that don’t quite understand this stuff. A permeability rate is a much more accurate way of understanding air tightness though, especially, if you want to compare apples with apples. Bigger homes score a lower ach@50pa, without a doubt.
How do all the bath vents and kitchen hoods affect testing? I have high quality Panasonic vents throughout my bathrooms and a 1300CFM kitchen hood. My make-up air unit brings in heated air to match the hood venting. The dampers on these devices are very flimsy and do not positively seal. In fact, I have NEVER seen or heard of a bath/kitchen vent where the damper actually sealed. They more or less just get in the way and leave a clearance all around so the flap can freely move. Do you seal all these up prior to testing>?
thanks for all the informative videos, they help a lot . was this house common construction type or a super insulated home? do you find better results (iaq) with different sip manufactures?
Hey Matt could you give me an average estimate cost of doing a blower door test. i live in fort worth and have been looking into this but dont know what an estimated cost would be. i have a home built in the 1920s and would love to seal it up and this is the only thing that makes sense investing in. thanks
How do you get the cu ft of anything. Length x width x ceiling height. 30x50x8=12,000 cu ft. So heat loss from the infiltration of air into your house equals the volume of the house x the design temperature x ACH(per hour) x .018. .018 is the heat capacity of air at sea level in Btu per cu ft per degree F. So in Austin Matt states he must be at 5 ACH. This would equate to 54,000 Btu's lost per hour at a design temp of 50* F. At Matt's ACH of 1.9 it is 20,520 Btu's per hour. Consequentially, if he could hit the Passive House standard of .6 ACH it would be 6480 Btu's per hour. 3412 Btu's is the equivalent of 1 Kw/h of electricity. So a code house would need 15kW of heat a tight house need 2kW and that's just from air infiltration.
bryon weatherford so you are saying we should leave all of our doors and windows open? That would be the same as having a "leaky home". The idea is to allow the hvac to dehumidify and the bathroom and kitchen vents to evacuate high levels of humidity then we don't have to heat the world with a "leaky house".
I had a very leaky house...open vents in crawl, no insulation in crawl, zero insulation between crawl and floors above it and zero insulation between crawl and habitable space next to it. Guess what, still had mold and odor. Sealed up the vents, added perimeter insulation all the way around the crawl...odor went away.
Congrats Matt. Maybe you can do a follow up video that highlights the key considerations that help you dial into a best outcome on the blower test (Windows, sheathing seals, etc - things I know you cover individually in many videos), but also the areas that often might be less under your control that contribute negatively to the outcome?
Hi, I'm from the future and you just built your own house at 0.1 ACH50 after using Aerobarier. Oh how far we've come in just a few years 😁👍
I Think Its Really Cool To Be A Milionaire, Sweet. I Wish IWill Be One Someday
Don't you need to add mechanical ventilation if the ACH 50 is less than 3?
Matt, are you doing more then one door blower test on your homes, say one before insulation/drywall and one on completion? Would be pretty hard to seal any air leaks that may be happening behind finished work, just wondering.
Wow so awkward with the stare at the end. Nice video as always my man.
Wouldn't this test make more sense if it used external area rather than volume? If you double the size of a house, the total external exposed area doesn't increase at nearly the same rate.
I know this was a year ago but your using internal volume as because your of the units
internal volume (cubic ft)/ air flow (cubic feet per hour)
Cubic feet cancles and your left with Air changes per hour.
Volume(ach@50pa) is just easier to explain to the masses. People that don’t quite understand this stuff. A permeability rate is a much more accurate way of understanding air tightness though, especially, if you want to compare apples with apples. Bigger homes score a lower ach@50pa, without a doubt.
How do all the bath vents and kitchen hoods affect testing? I have high quality Panasonic vents throughout my bathrooms and a 1300CFM kitchen hood. My make-up air unit brings in heated air to match the hood venting. The dampers on these devices are very flimsy and do not positively seal. In fact, I have NEVER seen or heard of a bath/kitchen vent where the damper actually sealed. They more or less just get in the way and leave a clearance all around so the flap can freely move. Do you seal all these up prior to testing>?
QuickTrain Canada microcredits course from Holland College brought me here.
Great video. Side note I couldn’t be that close to someone while talking to them it was actually mildly distracting. Lol
thanks for all the informative videos, they help a lot . was this house common construction type or a super insulated home? do you find better results (iaq) with different sip manufactures?
Do you seal up the vents for combustion air when this is done? Thanks.
I'm pretty sure that house would have been built with sealed combustion appliances.
kind of awkward that the other guy never looks at the camera.
Hey Snowflake, He is paying attention to Matt , not doing a selfie.
Its nice how he stares into Matt's eyes deeply tho
Matt, what is the permeability rate of this home? CFM/m2@50Pa. Better yet m3/h@50Pa for us Australian’s. 😉
What if the house has mold or something won't you disturb it with the blower door test and send spores or whatever thro the house causing problems?
Use SI units instead of this phantasy measurement units from Lord of the rings.
Hey Matt could you give me an average estimate cost of doing a blower door test. i live in fort worth and have been looking into this but dont know what an estimated cost would be. i have a home built in the 1920s and would love to seal it up and this is the only thing that makes sense investing in. thanks
Wait, you depressurize *to* 50 pascals? Or *by* 50 Pa?
Yeah that didn't make sense to me😅
by 50. They zero the system out first then depressurize till it's -50
Interesting
So if you don't live in Austin, Seatle, LA or NY who can you hire to perform this test?
How this work if you have exhaust fan in bathroom? exhaust in rangehood
How did he get cu ft of the home? from prints etc.? So do you do a trial run before he shows up...? Nice work.,
How do you get the cu ft of anything. Length x width x ceiling height. 30x50x8=12,000 cu ft. So heat loss from the infiltration of air into your house equals the volume of the house x the design temperature x ACH(per hour) x .018. .018 is the heat capacity of air at sea level in Btu per cu ft per degree F. So in Austin Matt states he must be at 5 ACH. This would equate to 54,000 Btu's lost per hour at a design temp of 50* F. At Matt's ACH of 1.9 it is 20,520 Btu's per hour. Consequentially, if he could hit the Passive House standard of .6 ACH it would be 6480 Btu's per hour. 3412 Btu's is the equivalent of 1 Kw/h of electricity. So a code house would need 15kW of heat a tight house need 2kW and that's just from air infiltration.
Dont open the other door of the house could that thing will go crazy🤣
Matt, Do you know of any good builders in Citrus County Florida ?
Hello, do I have your permission to use this video in my building systems class?
No
His voice is sick. I wonder what his original real voice sounds like
Enjoy the mold.
Eric Jennings there is this new thing called ventilation.
Which is what leaky houses had???
bryon weatherford so you are saying we should leave all of our doors and windows open? That would be the same as having a "leaky home". The idea is to allow the hvac to dehumidify and the bathroom and kitchen vents to evacuate high levels of humidity then we don't have to heat the world with a "leaky house".
I was implying anything. I agree that house needs to be tight. But just making it tight is half the battle.
I had a very leaky house...open vents in crawl, no insulation in crawl, zero insulation between crawl and floors above it and zero insulation between crawl and habitable space next to it. Guess what, still had mold and odor. Sealed up the vents, added perimeter insulation all the way around the crawl...odor went away.
Interesting