DC BEPS Energy Audit Report users must specify if a blower door infiltration test was performed. If the building has undergone whole-building or compartment pressurization testing, users will report testing parameters and summary results in this section.
Inputs for Infiltration:
Blower Door Test Performed? – Radio buttons selections for Yes or No if the building has undergone whole-building or compartment pressurization testing in accordance with ASTM E779, ASTM E1827, or ANSI/RESNET/ICC 380-2019. Select N/A if blower door testing is not applicable for the building type.
Pressure Boundary – If blower door testing has been performed, from the drop-down menu, select either “Whole building” if the test was performed on the entire building or, “Compartment” if testing was performed on portions of the building (e.g., apartments, floors, etc.). If testing was not performed, leave the field unselected.
Testing pressure differential in Pascals (Pa) – If blower door testing has been performed, indicate the targeted pressure differential between the interior and ambient pressures in Pascals (Pa). If the target pressure differential could not be achieved, note this result and the achieved pressure differential in the “Blower Door Notes” field. For example, if the target pressure differential is 50 Pa between the interior and ambient, but the test apparatus is only able to achieve a differential of 40 Pa, enter “50” in the “Testing pressure differential in Pascals (Pa)” field and note the lower testing pressure differential in the “Blower Door Notes” field.
In the case of compartmentalization testing, note how many tested compartments could not achieve the target pressure differential.
Normalized Air Flow Rate – Also known as the “infiltration rate,” enter the normalized air flow rate obtained from blower door testing as the air flow rate at the nominal pressure differential normalized by the relevant building/compartment metric.
For example, if the auditor is determining whole-building infiltration in Air Changes per Hour at 50 Pa (ACH50), they would normalize the tested air flow rate in cubic feet per minute at 50 Pa (CFM50) by the building volume in cubic feet, convert the “per minute” units to “per hour” units and would enter the tested infiltration rate in ACH50, noting these units in the subsequent field.
In the case of compartmentalization testing, the auditor would determine the weighted average infiltration rate and enter that value. The weighting factor(s) shall be determined according to how the auditor compartmentalizes the building for testing. For example, if the auditor is testing a sample of individual dwelling units from a 100-unit apartment building with a mix of 60 one-bedroom and 40 two-bedroom units, they would average the results of the tested one-bedroom infiltration rates and the two-bedroom infiltration rates, then weight the average rates by the proportion of each bedroom type. In this case, the one-bedroom average would be weighted by 60% and the two-bedroom units would be weighted by 40%, and the sum would yield the weighted-average normalized air flow rate for a typical dwelling unit.
The auditor shall note the compartment mix in the building and specify what compartments were sampled in the “Blower Door Notes” field.
Documented testing results can be uploaded as attachments in the Attachments section in the Submit to City tab.
Air Flow Rate Units – Select from the dropdown the air flow rate units for the Normalized Air Flow Rate determined in the previous field.
Blower Door Notes – In addition to the references to “Blower Door Notes” in the guidance for the fields above, use this field to enter any information that is not captured by the other fields in the “Infiltration” section that is relevant to the energy auditor’s findings.
In the case of compartmentalization testing, use this field to describe the sampling process including number of units/compartments in the sample set, sampling protocol followed, and breakdown/distribution of tested units/compartments. e.g., “Sampled 8 units (10% IAW ASHRAE Standard 211-2018, Table 1). Tested 5 x 1-bedroom and 3 x 2-bedroom units. Sampling occurred on each floor.”
In lieu of using this field for additional information, these details may be included in a separate report/spreadsheet uploaded on the Submit to City tab. In this case, please type “see attached report” in the Blower Door Notes field.