Retrotec Residential Pressure & Air Leakage - Manual (Page 75)

Page 75 of 75
©Retrotec Inc. 2012
Term
Definition
HVAC Heating Ventilating and Air conditioning system.
Leakage A general term used to describe holes or the area of holes in or around an enclosure.
Leakage Area This is the same as “Leakage” but expressed in square feet or m 2 .
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Normalized Leakage
Area, NLA
Total leakage air flow divided by test enclosure surface area.
Open Range A Range configuration on a Blower Door that has no Range Rings or Range Plates attached. On
Retrotec fans it is sometimes referred to as Open (22) Range since its diameter is 22 inches.
outdoors Outside the building in the area around the building.
Pascal (Pa) Often shown as “Pa”. A very small metric unit of pressure. There are 249 Pascals in 1 in WC,
the pressure required to push water up 1 inch in a tube. 1 Pa = 0.000145 psi.
Pressurization The process of creating a positive pressure in the house by blowing air into the enclosure. Air
is pushed out through all the leaks, causing the smoke to move away from the operator when
checked with an air current tester.
Range Plate The metal Range attachment on the Retrotec Door, which holds Ranges C8, C6, C4, C3, C2, C1,
L4, L2, and L1. See the Retrotec Range Configuration QuickGuide.
Range Ring The plastic Range attachments on the Retrotec Door, which include Range A and Range B. See
the Retrotec Range Configuration QuickGuide.
Reading A set of simultaneous Room Pressure and Fan Pressure readings. Sometimes referred to as a
data set or test point because it is plotted as one point on a graph.
Reference Pressure The pressure at which the ELA is calculated, usually at the test pressure.
room See “Enclosure”.
Room Pressure The pressure difference created by the Blower Door between inside and outside of the
enclosure, in this case a room. This pressure is commonly measured by Channel A on the
gauge or off of the Infiltrometer 60 Pa gauge.
test boundary Boundary of the portion of the building which is actually tested. The area of this boundary is
used in the results calculation.
Test Points Consists of a group of readings taken over a time period, which are typically averaged to
produce one test point that could be used as one of the multiple points in a curve fit or overall
average
Time Averaging Refers to the digital gauge display that must have an adjustable averaging from 1 second to 1
minute for the purpose of averaging fluctuating pressure signals.
Averaging can be block averages that will update for the length of the average or rolling
(moving) averages that will update continuously by displaying the average over the past time
period.
USACE US Army Corps of Engineers
Zero Fan Pressure ASTM E779-10 terminology for baseline pressure.