Go to Forum Home Building Refurbishment and Retrofit Smoke for Airtightness testing

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      Nick Grant
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        A couple of useful and cheap gizmos that may be of interest to any of you doing blower door tests.

        Professional testers should arrive with such kit but many hands make light work when looking for small leaks in a large building so extra kit is always useful.

        First is the Wizzard stick sold in the US by Zero toys (its a toy with an HVAC engineer add on!) or in UK by Proclima stockists. This is a water glycol fog device that uses AA batteries (rechargeable work best) to generate the heat needed to form fog when the water glycol mix is gently squeezed through the heater tube.

        The fog is a little warm so tends to rise unlike cold smoke from fuming acids but I find it does the trick and doesn't dissolve clothing. The Green Building Store kindly gave me one of these and I am now confident enough to use one on site without fear of Harry Potter references.

        A number of recent timber frame projects I have been involved with are being tested whilst the air barrier is visible from inside and outside, ie not wrapped with insulation. This means that a bigger smoke machine can be used inside whilst the building is under pressure and the smoke can be seen outside. This isnt always possible except around windows etc. really useful for curtain walling or joined window elements.

        As with the smaller fog machines proper professional machines are available at a price but I have modified a Maplin Disco fog generator to run on 110V and to operate even whilst the heater is re-heating to avoid an annoying wait at just the wrong moment. A bit under £50 plus an hour of tinkering.

        Obviously I do not suggest anyone does DIY electrics.

        Finally a small handheld hot wire anemometer is great for checking round windows and in places where a leak is suspected. Testo do a neat one for about £100 and it detects air movement that I can't feel with a wet finger.

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