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BS 5368 : Part 1 : 1976

EN 42
UDC 69.OIl B.2 . 6 20.1 93.2 9 : 697 .952

• •
~t!'!~ARV COP'( '.
PLEAS!: RETUfiIN.
. . . J .,
MICIIAEL WALKER
. , ' L

Methods of testing
o
Windows
Part 1.' Ail' permeability test

Methodes d'essais des fenetres

Partie 1. Essai de permeabi lit f; a I'ai r

o Prufmethoden f ur Fenster
Teil 1. Prufung der Fugendurchlii ssigkeit

This Euro peal\ Sta ndard EN 42 was given, as fro m 30 April 1976, th e status of 8 British Standard

British Standards Institution Gr 5

 BS 5368 ; Part 1 1976
EN 42

O '1tents
Page
Foreword Inside front cover
Brief history 2
National Appendix A Inside back cover
Cooperating organization s Back cover

Method of testing
1. Scope 3
2. Field of application 3
3.
4.
Terminology
Apparatus
3
3
,,
5. Preparation of window for testing 3
6. Preparation for the test 3
7. Test 3
8. Diagrams 4
9. Expression of results 4
1" Form of test report 4
,
b
eword ·" i
BS 5368 : Part 1 [EN 42) is the f irst Part of a series on
methods of testing windows. Subsequent European
Standards in the series will be published as further Parts
of BS 5368.

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 European Standard EN 42
Fi rst edit ion
Norme Europeenne October 1975

Europaische Norm

uoc 69.028.2: 620. 193.29 : 697.952

Descri pto rs: Wil"ldow~ , 1",,1,. air permEabili ty. IElUifl9 condition•• defin; , 'o" ' ,

En91ish version

Methods of testing windows

Part 1. Air perm eabi Hty test

Methodes d'essais des fene tres

Parti e 1. Essai d e permeabi lite a I'a ir

Prufmethoden fUr Fenster

T eil 1. Prufung de r Fuge ndurchlassigkeit

Th is standard was accepted by CEN as a European Standard
on 15 October 1975 w hereby th ~ members commined t o
accord to it the status of a national standard must do so
witho ut change. Th e de ta il s of the conditions under which
me mbers are so comm itted are gi ven in the CE N
constitution.
Up- ta-dale lists of the national standa rds o rganizations
which hava adopted th is European Standa rd, and relevallt
b ibliograDhi ca l references, may be obtained on appli cation
to the CEN Ce ntral Secreta riat, or t o th e sales offices of
any CE N member.
Th is EUropean Standard exists in three versio ns (F rench,
English , German) recognized by CE N as equivalent.
Nat iona l versions in other languages ran k as translations,
and in case of do ubt shou ld be checked aga inst o ne of the
recogni zed vers ions (French, Engli sh , Germa n ).
CEN members are the nat ional standar9s organ izatio ns of
Austria, Belgiu m, Denmark. Finland, Fra nce, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway. Portugal, S pain,
Swed en, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

o
(EN E ur opea n Comm it t e e for St an dard i z a t i on
C om lte Eu ropee n de No rm a li s a tion
E uro pa lsch es K oml tee. fu r N o rmu ng

Central Secreta riat : 5 Bou levard de l'E mpereur, B-1 000 Bruxell es

COPyright reserved t o all national CEN members

.EN 42 pag e 2

~-. f history
( tex t of t his standard, drawn up by a CEN working

g'~<JP , was submi tted to t he CEN members for ballot in

Aptil 1914, wi th a view to its adoption as a EUlOpean

Standard.

This standard was adopted by CEN on 15 October, 1975 as

a result of its adoption bv Ihe follo wing CEN members'
Austria, Belgium, Oenmark, France, Italy. Netherlands,
Spa in, $wiaerland and United Kingdom.

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 BS 5368 Part 1 1976

EN 42
")" i$Bd tiSh Standard wa$ publ ished under Ihe aUl hor ity of rile Cont r a c t requirements I~
<ecu live Soa rd on 28 May 1976. Aue nti on is d lawn to the lact thai this Bd tish Standard does not
Q Brili,h Standa rds Inst itu1ion , 1976
purport to include a ll the necessary provision s of a c ontra c t

ISBN:05S009344 1 Re v ision of Bri t is h Standards

Brilish Standards a re revisad, whe n necessary, by Ihe issue e it he r
of amendment slips or 01revised editions. It is important th a t
u se fS of Bri tish Stllndards shou ld ascertain that th ey ar e in
'~ Copyright
.~f-:~' ,U.sers of British Standards are reminded that copyright suhsists in possession of the latest ilmendments or editions.
t all BSI publications. No part of this public~ticn may be reproduc ed Th ~
f oll owjrl9 8S 1 rrierences re l~ te 10 the ......ork o n t his sl"ndard :
·,1<.;in.l!ny form with out the prior permission in writing of 8SI. Committee reference 8/1 42 Or~h fo r com ment 74/1 t 607
, This do es not preclude the fre~ use, in the course of impl ementing
the standard, of nec essa ry details such as symbols and si~e, type or
g,a'de designalions. Enquiries should be addressed to the
Pub li cations Manager, 1 01 Pentonyille Road. London Nl 9NO
(Telephone 01 ·837 8801 ; Telex 23218).

Cooperating organizations
The European Co mmill"e for Standardjzatio rl , under w hOM! 6e rmany Deutscher NormeMu55chu55
' OperviJiOl'l th i~ european Stll ndard was prepared, comprise Ihe Irela nd Institule for Indunr ia l R~earch a nd Sland5 rds
t ionel stend ar<:l'5 orgaoiZil l ions of the following Wener n Italy Ent! Na ziona le It l!l iar:o d j Un if icu io(le
ropesn countries: Netherland' Nederland . Norma lisatie· in.titu u l
Oe$ teueichisches Normungsinstitul Norway NO'ges Slilndardiser ingsforbund
A ustria
Selgium In~l i tul Beige! de Normalisa lion
POrtugal Repartir,;;io de No rmal i;rilCi O
Dans k Standilrdiser ingsrn;,d Sweden S ver iges St3ndardiseri (l95komm iS'lion
Denma rk
Suomen Staodardisoimil liilto,r .y. Switzariand Associ at ion S uisse de Norma li sa tio n
Fi"tend
France ASSoc iation Fran.;.eise d e Nor ma lisa tion Uni ted Kingdom Bril ish Slil ndards In. li l ullOn

o(

m OJ
Zu>
.p.c.n
Amendme nts iss ued sin ce pub lica tion NW
- (J)
(Xl
Amd. No. Date of issu e Text affected

British Standards Insti tutio n 2 Par k Street London W1A 2BS . Telepho ne 01 ·629 9000 · Telex 266933

7605-1.Sk- B

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EN 42 Page 3

Methods of testing windows 5. Preparation of window for testing

Part 1. Air permeability test
1. Scope
This sta nda rd d efines the m ethod to be u sed fo r the air
permeability lest o f window'S to be fitted in exterior walls
a nd supplied in th e form of fi nished u nits in actual
ope rating conditions.
2. Field of application
This standard applies to all w indows, incl uding door height
windows made of a ny ma te rial, in t he actual o perating
conditions in which they shou ld be used and fixed
according to the manufactu rer's recommendations ilS in a
finished bu ilding, bearing in mind t he cond itions of test as
defined hereafter. The standard does no t apply to t he
joi nts betwee n the windows a nd surroundi ng components
and material.
A surround fo r the specimen to be tested shall be prepared.
T h is sha!1 be stiff enough to w ithstand the test p resS ures
without defl ecting to an exte nt likely t o impair jointing or
to impose be nding stresses on the test speci men. When
act ual opera t ional condi t iOM are know n, t he fix ing of the
specimen may simu lat<! t hese (e.g., a window in cur tain
walling).
The window shall be fi xed plumb, square, and without
twist or bends.
T he window shall be cleaned in its entirety and dr ied.
The t h ickness, t ype of the glass a nd the method o f glazing
shall comply with the requ ire men ts of tile milnufac tu rer.
In the case of no specification or wh e n there is <l possibil ity
that the window shall be used with differe nt glasses, tests
shall be carried out wi th a glass of minim um t hickness wi th
respect to the surface a rea, as specified in the national
standards.

3. Terminology 6, Preparation for the test

3.1 pre51ur e. The d iffere nce between t he absolute air
The a ir temperatu re 01 the laboratory and the test cha mber

pressu re- o n the external surf ac e of a window and th e­

shall be measured and recorded in the repo rt.

absolu te ai r preswre o n th e internal su rface of the same

Th ree a ir pressure pulses shall be a p plied and the ra te 0 1

window.
appli cation sha H be over a pe riod of not less than 1 s.

The difference is positive when the external pressure is

Each pul se shall be maintained over 3 s at least.

higher t h an t he internal pressure. In the o the r case, it is

These pu lses shali be at a pressure 10 % higher than P max

negative. This pressure is expressed in Pascals (Pa). '

required fo r the test, wi t hout ho wever being less

than 500 Pa.

3.2 air Pt!rmeability. Til e pro perty of a closed wi ndow to

let air pass wh en it is submitted to a differential pressure.

With the pressure reduced to zero, all operating pa rts of

The air permeability is characterized by a flow of air

the window shall be opened and closed five times and

expressed in m1 /h as a f unc tio n of the pressure. This flow

finally secured in the c losed positi on.

may be related to the opening surface area of the window

Extraneous permeabi li ty of the apparat us shal l be

{flow per unit of surfa ce m1 / (h 01 2 )), o r to Ihe lengt h of

a ccounted for a nd preferab ly e limi nated. Ex traneous

open ing joints (flow per u nit 011en9th m 3 /I h m)), or to

cl1ambe r permea bility, w ilen measured, shall be de ter m ined

the total surface area of the window (fl ow per unit of

with t he w indow sp ecim e n sealed, at t he air pre ss~tr e

surface m 3 /(h m 2 I).

differences to be exe rt ed during th e w indow air

3.3 opening light. Any par t o f a window t hat can be

permeab ility tests.

moved within t he main frame . By convention, the surface

T he metering eq uipment for the measurement of t he

of the opening light is equal to the apparent surface, seen

w indow air permeabili ;Y m oy be used fo r measuring the

from insid e. The leng th 01 the joints is obtained from th e

extra neo us permeabi lity or it may be necessary to p ro vide

same dimensions as th ose used for calcu lation of th e

additional air metering equipment.

surface area.
Th e method ado pted to meas u re permea bility shall be

dea rl y stated in the test report .

4. Apparatus

The basic test apparatus co nsists of the follo wing:

7. Test
(1) a cl1amber \o'.lith e n opening to which the test
Th e windo w sh all be su bjected to increasing p ositive
window is fitted by its su r roun d;
pressure in stages for periods of at least 10 s u p to t he
(2) a means o f pro vid ing a controll ed d iffe re ntial (lir
pressure ac ross t he wi ndo w ;
(3) a de vice for rapid controll ed changes of the
differential air preS$ ure operating betwee n defin ed
lirnit$;
(4) a means o f measuring the flo w o f a ir in to or out o f
t he appa rat us;
(5) a mea ns of meesu ring the difference in press ure
be tween the two fa ces of the window.
maxim:JOl pressure required fo r the tesL
T hese p ress ures shall be 50, 100, 150, 200, 300. 400, 500
an d 600 Pa and can the n be increased in ste ps of 250 Pa
max imum it th e pressure required tor th'e test is,
exceptionally, higher than 600 Pa.
The pressures shall t hen be applied in the reverse o rder.
N OT E. If II is ' 1:"Q>I)' ed 10 tesl;; window lor .. ir p", m eabllily in Ihe
reverse di,ect ior., i.e .. "nder nega tive pressur e. 1h" same melhod
sh ~ 11 be u~ed.

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I
" Pa '" N/m' = 0.102 mm H,O.

• .!

. Diagrams
Jiagrams 1 and 2 show Ihe sequence o f operation for :
a requi red pressure P max less t han 600 Pa. for example.
of 300 Pa (see d iagram 11;
For each window lested, record the vol ume o f air fl ow
passing through the specimen e)(pressed as cubic me tres of
ai r per hou r :
(a) per met re of length of openi ng joint;

a required pressure P max greater than 600 Pa. for
example, of 700 Pi Isee diagram 2).
9. Expression of results
The air permeabil ity readings at each p ressure shall be
recorded. The higher of the two readings at each pre~u r e.
increasi ng 8S well as decreasing, shall be noted in t he report.
(bl per SQuare metre o f opening l ight ;
Ie) per square metre o f total surface area o f the window.
These s hall be p lo tted o n twO graphs aga imt risi ng pressure
and the graphs shall be included in the lest repo rt.
, O. Form of test report
The test repo rt shall be pl esented in acco rda nce
with EN 78."

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• EN 42 Page 5

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BS 5368 Pa,t 1 1976

•
EN 42

National Append ix A
T he United King dom pan ici pation in t he preparation of
th is European StCl nda rd ca me under t he authority of t he
Building Oivisional Council. The fo llowing organi zations
were invol v~ in the work o n this standard:
Aluminium Wind ow As sociation
Association of Bu ild er$' Hardwa re Manufacturers
British Pla stics !=ederation
British Wood work Ma nufactu rers' Association
Department of the Enviro nm ent Build ing Research
Establish ment
Department of the Environme nt, Housing a nd Connructio n
Department of the Enviro n me nt, Property Services Age ncy
Fibre Building Boa rd Development Organiza tion l td.
Flat Glass Man ufacturers' Associa tio n
Grea ter London Council
Incorporated Associati on of Architects and Surveyors
Institution of Fire Engineers"
Interdepartmental Co nstructio n Development Group
M~tal Window Federat io n of Great Bri ta in
Modul ar Society
Roval, l nstitute o f British Architects
Tim ber Research and Development Associatio n

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