ASHRAE’s HVAC Inspection and Maintenance Standard Open for Review

A proposed standard currently open for public review will be the first to deal exclusively with inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems in buildings where the public is exposed to the indoor environment.

ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180P, Standard Practice for Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial Building HVAC Systems, would establish minimum HVAC inspection and maintenance requirements that aid a system’s ability to achieve acceptable thermal comfort, energy efficiency and indoor air quality in commercial buildings.

“Inconsistent practices in inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems is common in the building industry,” explains Bob Baker, chair of the committee writing the standard. “As a result, systems frequently operate outside optimum performance, without providing the energy efficiency, thermal comfort and indoor air quality they were designed to provide.”

Baker notes that a standard practice would benefit occupants and also ensure that indoor environmental conditions are maintained as energy efficiently and cost effectively as possible.

Highlights of the proposed standard include:

• Responsibility for compliance with the standard is clearly on the building owner; a common reason given for lack of maintenance is lack of sufficient resources available to maintenance personnel.

• Each building must have a written plan that addresses 57 inspection/maintenance items required if those components are present in the building (for example, if a building has cooling towers, items dealing with cooling towers are mandated as part of the plan).

• An additional list of 563 optional inspection and maintenance items that building owners/operators may wish to consider when preparing their individual plans is included. “This listing, assembled by 24 of the most knowledgeable persons about HVAC system maintenance in the industry, is an incredible resource that has never before been available to those planning and managing maintenance activities,” Baker said.

• The standard concentrates especially on those factors that impact thermal comfort, energy efficiency and indoor air quality so as to promote sustainability.

The proposed standard is open for public comment until Nov. 6. To read a draft of the standard or to comment, visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews .

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