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.
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) are developing the standard.
"Inconsistent practices in inspection and maintenance of HVAC systems is common in the building industry," says 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 says.
• The standard especially concentrates 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 November 6, 2006. To read a draft of the standard or to comment, click here.
