Every time work is to be performed on the building envelope, be
it insulation, air-sealing or ventilation, it is our policy to consider
the safety of the occupants. Ashton Thermal takes this responsibility
seriously, and should a component fail one of our tests, no work
will be done until repairs or replacement have occurred.
Component Tested
|
For
What?
|
Why?
|
| Gas range/ oven |
Carbon Monoxide |
CO is a tasteless odorless gas that is undetectable without
proper equipment. If your oven is producing unacceptable quantities
of CO for a sustained period of time, occupant health is at risk;
particularly the very young and the very old. |
| Gas/ oil water heater |
Carbon Monoxide
|
CO is a tasteless odorless gas that is undetectable without
proper equipment. If your oven is producing unacceptable quantities
of CO for a sustained period of time, occupant health is at risk;
particularly the very young and the very old. |
| Draft/ Spillage |
If your water heater's chimney does not have sufficient draft,
CO and unburned fuel will spill into the living space. |
| Gas/ oil boiler |
Carbon Monoxide |
CO is a tasteless odorless gas that is undetectable without
proper equipment. If your oven is producing unacceptable quantities
of CO for a sustained period of time, occupant health is at risk;
particularly the very young and the very old. |
| Draft/ Spillage |
If your boiler's chimney does not have sufficient
draft, CO and unburned fuel will spill into the living space. |
| Efficiency |
The efficiency is checked to ensure proper
combustion which is an indicator of the health of the appliance. |
| Gas/ oil furnace |
Carbon Monoxide |
CO is a tasteless odorless gas that is undetectable without
proper equipment. If your oven is producing unacceptable quantities
of CO for a sustained period of time, occupant health is at risk;
particularly the very young and the very old. |
| Draft/ Spillage |
If your furnace's chimney does not have sufficient draft, CO
and unburned fuel will spill into the living space. |
| Efficiency |
The efficiency is checked to ensure proper combustion which
is an indicator of the health of the appliance. |
| Sealed Combustion Equipment - All |
Carbon Monoxide |
CO is a tasteless odorless gas that is undetectable without
proper equipment. If your oven is producing unacceptable quantities
of CO for a sustained period of time, occupant health is at risk;
particularly the very young and the very old. |
| Gas/ propane lines |
Leaks |
Leaking gas is a fire hazard. |
"Gas" as used in the above table should be taken to mean
natural gas, or propane. We also check kerosene appliances. Ashton
Thermal will not perform work in homes where unvented ("vent-free")
combustion heaters are 
present
- no exceptions. Your family's safety is important to us: We perform
these tests before we begin work on your home, and after we have
completed our work.
People require fresh air. Tight buildings without an adequate supply
of fresh air can make people sick. The rising incidence of asthmatic
children is largely attributed to buildings that are too tight, with
little or no ventilation. IAQ, or Indoor Air Quality, can be dramatically
improved by adding a fan or two. This exhausting of stale, polluted
indoor air to outside of the building can be very effective. In very
tight homes, we install heat recovery ventilators (HRV) to supply
fresh air and exhaust stale air.
We test a building's tightness using a blower door. This test gives
a good representation of how many air changes per hour (ACH) will
occur under natural conditions. On homes that are tight, or that
we will get tight, Ashton Thermal will nearly always recommend (and
sometimes insist) on some type of mechanical ventilation for homes
that currently have none. We're not trying to pad the bill, we just
want our customer to be happy and healthy.
