Understanding air infiltration in homes.

Studies the techniques and issues related to evaluating the airtightness of homes. The first section discusses the physics of air infiltration and the techniques used to measure infiltration rates. Also discusses pressurization testing and its relation to infiltration. The second section presents experimental work aimed at several questions raised in the first section. A long term experiment involving weekly pressurization testing of a home reveal the short-term reproducibility of the test results and the seasonal variation in a home's tightness. Uses a test chamber to study the relation of pressurization to infiltration, and carries out practical experiments with thesame aim in 14 identical houses. Also uses the test chamber to evaluate the efficiency of an air-to-air heat exchanger.