Stellar Building Performance recently completed blower door testing in Cocoa for Hoffman & Adams Construction at a new custom single family home in the Canaveral Groves area, in Brevard County. The home passed its envelope leakage test at 2.88 ACH50, under the 7.0 ACH50 figure its energy documentation called for.
A 2.88 ACH50 Result in Cocoa
The blower door moved 2,500 CFM at a 50 Pascal pressure difference, across a conditioned volume of 52,030 cubic feet. That works out to 2.88 ACH50. The home is roughly 4,900 square feet of living area, built with stucco walls, a standing seam metal roof and arched black-framed windows.
ACH50 expresses the measured air leakage relative to the volume of the home, allowing the blower door result to account for differences in building size. A large home and a small home can move very different amounts of air through the fan and still land on the same ACH50, which is why the ratio, not the raw airflow, is the number the energy documentation and the building department work from.
The number this house had to meet was not a universal one. Florida’s prescriptive path caps envelope leakage at 7 ACH50 in Climate Zones 1 and 2, but this project was documented on the performance path, and the target that applied was the ACH50 value specified in its own energy calculation. Here that figure was 7.0. A different house with different documentation gets a different number, which is why we always test against what the project’s documentation calls for.
If you have a project in Cocoa that needs an envelope leakage test, you can request blower door testing in Cocoa and we will get it on the schedule.
Under 3 ACH50 Means Mechanical Ventilation in Cocoa
A result of 2.88 ACH50 carries a consequence beyond the pass itself. Under the Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation, a dwelling unit that tests below three air changes per hour has to be provided with whole house mechanical ventilation, and the building department verifies that the installation is in place. The test report we file for this home flags that verification for the building department.
Builders chasing a tight envelope are better off planning for that requirement before the test than discovering it at close out. We covered the same situation on a Fort Pierce home in our Project Update on blower door testing in Fort Pierce.
If your Cocoa project needs ductwork tested as well, take a look at our duct leakage testing in Cocoa.
Working With Hoffman & Adams Construction in Cocoa
Hoffman & Adams Construction reached out through our website for a quote on this build. They signed the proposal, the scope was blower door testing only, and the test ran on November 12. I was onsite for it.
The test itself used a Retrotec Model 5000 fan and SmartCloth panel set into a doorway, pulling the house to roughly 50 Pascals below the outdoor pressure while the gauge logged airflow. We have also tested nearby in Brevard County, including our Project Updates on blower door testing in Rockledge and blower door testing in Cocoa Beach.
Builders with more homes coming in Cocoa and the rest of Brevard County can contact Stellar Building Performance to talk through testing for the whole schedule.
Testing Across Five Counties, Including Cocoa
Stellar Building Performance provides blower door testing, duct leakage testing, mechanical ventilation testing, HERS Ratings and infrared imaging for builders, developers and homeowners across Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties. You can see the full list on our service area page.
Have a home in Cocoa that is ready for its envelope leakage test? Request blower door testing and we will take it from there.
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