ASHRAE Proposes Alternate Compliance Path in IAQ Standard

“For existing buildings, it may be difficult to apply the ventilation-rate procedure, particularly for buildings with multiple-zone recirculating ventilation systems,” Roger Hedrick, chair of the Standard 62.1 committee, said. “This is because determination of some of the values needed to calculate ventilation rates may be difficult or impossible because required information is not available. An example is system ventilation efficiency, used in Equation 6.2.5.4.”

Proposed Addendum b provides an alternate path of compliance for smaller facilities with straightforward multiple-zone applications and for situations in which the information required to determine system performance is unavailable, Hedrick said.

Also open for public comment is proposed Addendum c, which revises the definition of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to include emissions from electronic smoking devices and cannabis smoke. Requirements for separating ETS-free spaces from ETS spaces remain unchanged. Addendum c also clarifies that the provision of acceptable indoor-air quality is incompatible with the presence of ETS.

Also open for public comment are:

• Addendum d, which adds an exception to Section 5.8, Particulate Matter Removal.
• Addendum e, which modifies Section 8, Operation and Maintenance, incorporating calibration requirements for airflow-monitoring sensors and systems and harmonizing Table 8.4.1, Minimum Maintenance Activity and Frequency, with ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180-2012, Standard Practice for Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial-Building HVAC Systems.
• Addendum p, which allows ventilation for spaces of selected occupancy types to be reduced to zero through the use of occupancy sensors.
• Addendum q, which modifies Section 5.2, Exhaust Duct Location, by including air classes instead of descriptive language and allowing positively pressurized exhaust ducts inside spaces of origin.

For more information and to comment, visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.