For Pros

Put a Nerd In Your Pocket

You're an architect, and have a question about ventilation.

You're a building official, and you need a blower door test.

You're a builder, and are worried that you won't meet the Energy Code.

You're in HVAC, and you need a Manual J and just don't want to do it.

I get it. Building used to be simple. Make it square & plumb, keep the water out, and you'd be well on your way.

But here we are, in the 21st century, and we're worried about air molecules, thermodynamics, and whether our products are giving kids asthma. To say nothing about the energy.

So let me help. Some of the things I do:

• blower door testing
• third-party energy code compliance verification
• ventilation calculations (ASHRAE 62.2)
• air sealing (Guaranteed infiltration reductions!)
• building forensics ("Why is there rot?")
• ventilation system design and commissioning
• heat load calcs

Don't see something you need on that list?  Call me.  Chances are that if it's too nerdy or weirding you out, I've dealt with it. And fixed it.  And made the inspector happy.

Build something awesome, and your clients will rave about you.  As they should.

Say hello to my little friends

The Minneapolis Blower Door system is used for all sorts of things - building diagnostics, infiltration measurements, finding air leaks, etc. Your air sealing is BETTER when it's checked with the blower door. Find all the spots that were missed!

Two manometers (pressure & flow gauges). One modern, one old-school. Sometimes you just need two manometers. Used for things like:

• figuring out if you need a transfer grille
• measuring static pressures in air handling equipment
• fan flows (is that 80 CFM bath fan really moving 80 CFM?)
• and much, much more.
  
  

The Exhaust Fan Flow Meter is a box with a hole-of-a-certain-size cut in it. Hook it up to the manometer, put the box over the fan, turn it on, and figure out if you're meeting ASHRAE 62.2's targets.  Or if the electrician forgot to take the tape off the damper on that new bath fan.

The vane anemometer measures flows at registers & fans that are too big for the Fan Flow Meter.

Combustion analyzer for fossil fuel-burners. Get combustion efficiencies, stack temperatures, carbon monoxide levels, carbon dioxide levels, all sorts of stuff.

My combustible gas leak detector ("sniffer") has a digital display, because every time I've found a gas leak, I've been asked, "how big is it?"  The sniffer points us to the leak, but then I put bubble solution on it to verify. No bubbles, no troubles. Keeps us from getting false positives and wasting the plumber's time.

The Targeted Retrofit Energy Analysis Tool does energy modeling and helps figure out how much energy will be saved. It's also capable of a number of other things, such as figuring out cooling & heating loads. Results from TREAT were compared to Manual J and found to be very close.