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Offical Blower Door Test

Official Blower Door Test


Well we've been in the house for almost a year now, and we are just now getting all of the necessary documents sent to Passive House Academy (PHA) for final certification.

The big remaining items are:
  • Installation PSI values for our windows - results for this will be in a separate blog post. 
  • Zehnder Commissioning to verify airflow in each room and ensure proper balancing from the supply and exhaust from the unit
  • Official Blower Door Test
So this post will go into some depth on what is required for the Passive House Institute Airtight Test


Calculate the House Air Volume
This is maybe the biggest difference between the ASTM and European Standard. We calculate the air volume of the house from slab to interior drywall and exclude ALL interior wall and floor air volumes. Essentially the "visible air volume" inside the house.

Sketchup makes this much easier!

I broke up the volume into 4 components
Volume of the Basement = 8,888 cuft

 Volume of the 1st Floor = 9,896 cuft
 Volume of the 2nd Floor is = 8,727 cuft
Volume of the Staircase Shaft is = 1,846 cuft

This give me a total volume of 29,357
(and just over 2900 sqft for those keeping score at home).

For you PHUIS people - my surface area is 6371 sqft

Here are my results from the official PHI Test:

Multi-point Depressurization


Final Depressurization : 51 CFM50

Multi-point Pressurization


Final Depressurization : 49 CFM50

Average per PHI Standard = 50 CFM50 => 0.10 ACH50

Now for the actual test. Enjoy the videos!

Blower Door Setup


Airtightness test with Duct Blaster Ring 3




Airtightness test with Blower Door Ring D



So here are our results:

Rochester Passive House is one of the tightest in the world!


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