The Duct Smoke Testing Process

To ensure that smoke testing is adequately implemented the following protocol has been established and should NOT be deviated from:

1.  All boots are temporarily sealed by either the AC Contractor or authorized Smoke Testing personnel.

2.  Portable Smoke Tester is connected to the supply and return sections of the duct work.  All dampers, if installed,  to be verified open by AC Representative.

3. AC Representative is present during Smoke Testing to seal observed leakages with approved materials.  Marking the area with spray paint or by other means is not acceptable as it is the job of the Smoke Testing personnel to verify that all leaks have been sealed or repaired on-site.

4. Smoke Testing personnel notes severity and location of leakages.

5.  Smoke Testing personnel verify that all leaks have been sealed at rough-in and supply certificate to client attesting to that fact with date and signature of certified Smoke Tester.

6.  Special Note:  We do not "Sample" any of the homes that we are under contract. "Sampling" involves perhaps testing only 1 out of 7 houses (Energy Star and other programs), and inferring that the other 6 meet the guidelines set forth of that 1 home that was tested.  Our experience indicates that "Sampling" is a  very bad method and have found significant failures within a batch of homes that would not have been identified by the sampling protocol.  In fact, it is very rare that we do not find failures after 3 or 4 houses. Buyer Beware.  We test EVERY house, because our reputation depends on providing a quality inspection protocol.