At some point after the dry wall is installed and I’ve made my first pass at trying to fix all of the holes, I’m going to try and find and fix as many air leaks in my new house as I can.
I’m looking for some suggestions on finding the air leaks. I’ve run across discussions of something called “weightless smoke”, but I have had zero luck finding it on the web.
Any ideas for ways to find the air leaks?
Replies
The standard way is to pay to have a 'blower door test' done on the home.
A blower door test will be done.
However, I would like to find and fix as many leaks as I can before that test.
You don't need smoke. There's a marker everyplace a leak can be.Look for outlets, switches, wall/ceiling hung fixtures, Plumbing supply lines and drains, Air registers and vents, Floor/wall corners, Doors, windows, and the like.SamT
This is new to me.
The marker part I understand.
I plan on using my saw dust vacuum hooked up the kitchen exhaust hood, the vent goes through the wall, to pull the vacuum.
Are the leaks going to be that obvious?
Your vacuum will not help. It can't pull enough for you to be able to just walk around and find leaks.Until the "markers" are sealed, you have leaks. Those are the only places leaks can occur in the interior envelop. After you have sealed them it will be time for the blower test.SamT
Yeah, a vacuum isn't nearly enough volume. A good sized box fan would do it.BTW, I have it on good authority from the maintenance guys at Brown's Ferry that the way to check for leaks is with a candle. (NOT!)
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
The saw dust vacuum is rated for 1,200 cfm free air which works out to about 2ACH for my house. I would think that it would provide a higher pressure differential than a box fan could manage.
Higher pressure, yes, but not enough volume.
If your view never changes you're following the wrong leader
Paul,A blower door with one fan can pull between 300 and 6300cfm. Unless your house is very leaky, you won't need 6300cfm to depressurize it. If you find that 1200cfm is not enough (and it probably will be) try closing off part of the house to reduce it's volume. Seal the leaks you find then open the closed area and do it again.Before doing this be sure to turn off any combustion appliances (like a gas fired water heater) so they don't backdraft.Here's a link to a blower door instruction manual. There's some good info that you might be able to use, even though you don't have one.http://www.energyconservatory.com/download/bdmanual.pdfJerry
Thanks -
no combustion appliances in the house, but the information does really help.
Glad it helped. I would love to hear how it goes - keep us posted.Jerry
Paul,
Here's two places that have what you want:
http://www.evhill.com/products/TT_Sticks.htm
http://www.metermall.com/Search/Smoke.htm
I thought this place had them, but I can't find them on the website. You might try giving them a call. They're a great company to deal with and reasonable prices.
http://www.efi.org/
Good Luck,
Jerry
Thanks! that is exactly what I was looking for.I've recently purchased several items from efi.org
The key really is going to be getting enough pressure and airflow to be able to move the air from all over the house. Once you do that, you won't need the smoke- you can feel the air moving w/ your hand. You might want to put together your own, uncalibrated blower door setup. A standard box fan might not be enough- I'd go for a big jobsite fan. You might also consider taping off your HVAC registers to isolate envelope leaks from duct leaks.
Here's a doc w/ ideas on sealing. One you may have missed is caulking the bottom wall plates to the subfloor.
http://www.southface.org/web/resources&services/publications/factsheets/8_airsealing.pdf
thanks for the input!
The duct work is all inside the insulated envelop, so no need to seal off the registers.
I believe that I have the subfloor to wall plates sealed, but more caulking is planned. I bought quite a bit of electrician's putty and will be appying that before drywall goes up.