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Purpose of the work
The German Energy Savings and Renewables Act (GEG) entered into force on November 1, 2020 and thus replaced the Energy Savings Ordinance. §26 of the Energy Savings and Renewables Act specifies that a building shall be checked for leaks "before it is finished". The same provision refers to the measurement standard DIN EN ISO 9972:2018. The national annex to this standard provides the additional information that "building envelopes can be checked for leaks only after the building envelope has been rendered airtight, including all penetrations." This brings up the question whether the point in time when the test is conducted has any impact on type and scope of the first process step of a "preceding test" and thus on contractors testing the building envelope for leaks, since they have to detect "large leaks" and describe them in detail.
Method of approach
Those written descriptions are analyzed during the final measurement with a view to air leaks and might lead to practical consequences.
Content of the contribution
This presentation describes different chains of reasoning when dealing with "preceding tests" with regard to large leaks. It will also analyze whether the companies conducting the tests have changed their expectations and to which extent they are aware of this change. For the purpose of that analysis the following aspects will be linked to each other: types/methods of airtightness measurements, leak classifications, quality criteria and the questions whether and how air leaks can be prevented. I will also refer to Ulf Köpkes presentation which draws attention to the legal aspect of "leakages that are fit for purpose".
Conclusions
The presentation concludes with a suggestion as to how to deal with the "preceding test".
For further information please contact Dr. Klaus Vogel at: idt-vogel@t-online.de