Energy Conservatory, "Minneapolis
Duct Blaster Operation Manual." The Energy Conservatory 5158 (2007).
Gary came up with the
duct blaster and an affordable digital manometer.
Once construction is complete, a blower door test and a
duct blaster test are performed, among other inspections, to insure the home exceeds ENERGY STAR[R] standards.
Airflow and duct leakage tests were conducted using an Energy Conservatory Duct Blaster and Model 3 Blower Door in accordance with ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 152 (ASHRAE 2004c).
Estimates of supply duct leakage were assessed at each collected data point by correcting for changes in the observed supply plenum operating pressure and using a power-law flow-leakage approximation following the procedures in the Duct Blaster manual and ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 152-2004, as shown in Equation 4 (ASHRAE 2004c; The Energy Conservatory 2007).
The blower door,
duct blaster, manometer, and infrared camera are the backbone of the rating system.
You can have a pressurized "
duct blaster" test performed to check for leaks.
Then, we cut a couple of holes in the interior walls up near the top at the underside of the roof, and used duct tape to hold a
duct blaster in place and figure out how much air needed to be added to pressurize the parapet to prevent air from migrating from the wall assembly into the roof assembly (Photo 11).
Duct leakage was measured using an Energy Conservatory
Duct Blaster (uncertainty [+ or -]3% of flow reading) and Model 3 blower door in accordance with ASHRAE Standard 152-2004.