October 17, 2018
When you install new ductwork, that ductwork is designed to deliver a certain amout of air per resgister. If the ductwork is not sealed properly - air will leak from the duct and leak out into the attic or basement or walls. So the homeowner way wind up paying to heat or cool the attic instead of the bedrooms. This causes utility bills to go higher, hot and cool rooms, unsafe indoor air quality and pre-mature equipment failure.
Testing the ducts for CFM delivered by per room, and testing the ducts for leakiness has been the gold standard of duct install and duct a quality provisioning of the service. Unfortunately this is not done enough enough.
Today if you build a new home, many towns are requiring the ducts to be sealed as part of the install process. But not just sealed. Sealed very, very, very good. Used to be 10% leakage was OK. Not any more. Today's NJ's energy code requires that the ducts be sealed to a maximum of 4% CFM of the conditioned space.
Here at Building Sciences, we provide this duct testing service. As long as all the ducts, takeoffs, cabinet, plenums and registers are sealed tight, there should be no problem passing this test. We issue you a certificate right on the spot.
To be clear, these are two seperate services: CFM (amount of air delivered to a register) vs duct leakage testing. While both combined are the gold standard in provisioning a system, only duct leakage testing is required by SOME municipalities.
If you need either service, please contact us at 973-544-6800.
