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Headwaters Energy
offers advance technology to screen your home or
commercial property for current or potential air leakage or
condensation problems.
Duct Blasting
Blower Door
Testing
Infrared
technology
Energy Saving
Tips
Duct
blasting combines a small fan and a pressure gauge to
pressurize a house’s duct system and accurately measure air leakage
of the ductwork.
Leaks in forced
air duct systems are now recognized as a major source of energy
waste in both new and existing houses. Studies indicate that duct
leakage can account for as much as 25% of total house energy loss,
and in many cases has a greater impact on energy use than air
infiltration through the building shell.
Just as important, duct
leakage can prevent heating and cooling systems from doing their job
properly, resulting in hot or cold rooms, and humidity problems.
Worse yet, duct leaks can create air quality problems by pulling
pollutants and irritants directly into the house.
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Blower Door Tests
Professional
energy auditors use blower door testing to help determine a home's
air-tightness.
These are some
reasons for establishing the proper building tightness:
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Reducing energy consumption due to
air leakage
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Avoiding
moisture
condensation problems
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Avoiding uncomfortable drafts caused by cold
air leaking
in from the outdoors
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Making sure that the home's
air quality
is not too contaminated by indoor air pollution.
How They Work
A blower door is a
powerful fan that mounts into the frame of an exterior door. The fan
pulls air out of the house, lowering the air pressure inside. The
higher outside air pressure then flows in through all unsealed
cracks and openings. The auditors may use a smoke pencil to detect
air leaks. These tests determine the air infiltration rate of a
building.
Blower doors
consist of a frame and flexible panel that you can place in a
doorway, a variable-speed fan, a pressure gauge to measure the
pressure differences inside and outside the home, and an airflow
manometer and hoses for measuring airflow.
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Headwaters Energy
offers Advance infrared technology and screening for your home or
commercial property.
Infrared scanning
provides physical documentation of current or potential problems
that are invisible to the naked eye. Issues that can be identified
include:
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Insulation verification
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Moisture detection
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Comfort problems
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Roof Failures
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In floor heat problems
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A
Leaking Bedroom Ceiling
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The thermogram (left) clearly
shows a leaking bedroom ceiling (visible, right). The leak
was assumed by the owner to originate in an upstairs
marble-paneled bathroom in the $3 million home. The
estimated cost to rip out and replace the marble to access
the plumbing was estimated at $80,000! Further IR
investigation absolved the bathroom and traced the source of
the leak to a clogged weep hole under the threshold of a
door leading to an upstairs porch. |
Vinyl-sided apartment house
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The thermogram of this
vinyl-sided 3-floor apartment house clearly shows the path
of a serious leak from a washing machine on the third floor,
which is completely hidden within the wall. The
thermographer used FLIR’s Image Builder software to
automatically "stitch" the three individual thermographs
into one fully thermographic collage. |
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Specific tips
coming soon. For Energy Star tips,
click here.

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