Your First Stop for Energy Code Compliance Help!

On March 29th, 2017       By Ron Samuelson

You just found out that the building inspector is asking for a blower door test. And a duct leakage test. And he’s asking for the ‘Manual J.’ You never heard of these things before and don’t exactly know what he’s talking about.

That’s where we come in. Home Energy Consultants has been doing energy code compliance testing since 2011. We know the energy codes and how to make a new home healthy, more comfortable—and above all—energy efficient.

The tests that the local code official is asking for are mandatory under the 2015 IECC. More importantly, they are the only way to know with certainty how much air enters and exits a building. It’s called ‘air changes per hour’, or ACH. High ACH means higher energy costs.

• A blower door measures a home’s ACH and 2015 IECC requires 3 or less ACH for code compliance.
• The duct leakage test measures in CFM (cubic feet per minute) how much air is leaking from inside the forced air distribution system. The code limits the allowable leakage to just 4% of the conditioned square footage.
• A Manual J is a calculation to figure out how many BTUs of heating and TONS of cooling are needed to comfortable condition a new home.

These code compliance measures used to be optional. Now they are mandatory and they are the only way to quantify the energy performance of a new home, renovation or addition.