ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment. The Society and its more than 57,000 members worldwide focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, refrigeration and sustainability. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow’s built environment today.
ASHRAE Seeks Additional Comments for Proposed Standard Assessing Moisture Affected Areas, Fungal Contamination of Educational Facilities
— Those interested in commenting on the standard may do so until Dec. 25 —
ATLANTA – ASHRAE seeks a second round of public comments on BSR/ASHRAE/IAQA Standard 3210P, Standard for the Assessment of Educational Facilities for Moisture Affected Areas and Fungal Contamination. Standard 3210P is open for a 45-day public review until Dec. 25. Those interested in reviewing and commenting on the proposed standard can do so at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.
A joint ASHRAE-IAQA standard, Standard 3210P is intended to provide a uniform and repeatable procedure, specifically tailored to educational facilities, to identify areas in buildings, materials, equipment and systems that are subject to moisture or are suspected of fungal contamination or adverse conditions associated with fungal contamination.
The proposed standard will provide essential information and guidance to determine if and to what degree facilities that are used for educational purposes are contaminated. This standard does not apply to biological contamination beyond fungal growth.
“Gaining input from the public on new ASHRAE standards is crucial toward improving the safety of education facilities,” says Jay Stake, chair of the Standard 3210P committee. “The goal of SPC 3210P is to guide professionals through the proper assessment to obtain a healthy indoor environment for educational facilities and its occupants.”
According to ASHRAE research, moisture damage and microbial growth cause billions of dollars in repair costs and interruption of building operations. The buildup of moisture indoors can be controlled through the building’s design, construction, and operation and the actions of its occupants.
To make a comment or learn more, please visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.
About the Indoor Air Quality Association
The Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing practitioners together to prevent and solve indoor environmental problems for the benefit of customers and the public. IAQA was established in 1995 and is the nation’s largest indoor air quality trade association with over 2,000 members and some 20 local chapters. More information is available at www.iaqa.org/news.
ASHRAE Offers Free Residential and Refrigerants “Mini-Tracks” at AHR Expo
ATLANTA – ASHRAE will present a series of refrigerant and residential building “mini-track” seminars at the 2018 AHR Expo.
The 2018 ASHRAE Winter Conference takes place Jan. 20-24 at the Palmer House Chicago with the co-sponsored AHR Expo being held Jan. 22-24 at McCormick Place. To register for the conference, which includes free access to the Expo, visit www.ashrae.org/chicago.
The eight seminars are free, and no badge is required to attend. They take place from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 22.
According to Michael Collarin, conference chair, high-efficiency home materials and the drive to incorporate low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants are timely subjects for building industry professionals.
“The refrigerant and residential mini-tracks featured at this year’s AHR Expo highlight two industry segments that are experiencing rapid change,” he said. “The goal is to provide an integrated look at these two important topics, in order to equip manufacturers, designers, building owners and other users with the resources they need to improve residential energy efficiency and overall sustainability.”
The seminar topics by track are:
Residential Track
Senses and Cents: Reducing Sound, Improving Comfort and Enabling Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings
People complain about a lot of stuff, but when it comes to residential heating and cooling systems it’s all about the noise, discomfort and forking out money to an unfriendly utility. Learn to apply the fundamentals in duct and pipe design for the benefit of your client’s senses and cents.
Real-World Experience Providing Residential Energy Excellence
High performance residential buildings combine modeling skills, designs for sustainable performance, installation practices that implement the integrated designs and strategies that satisfy a diverse set of occupant needs without penalizing energy performance or indoor environmental quality over the life of the building. This seminar highlights the importance of a trained workforce in meeting expected design and performance targets, shows the benefits of modeling to achieve exceptional performance affordably, compares model predictions with monitored performance in multifamily applications and demonstrates the positive impact of awareness and actionable energy data on occupant behavior.
Keeping Occupants Happy and Healthy Through Affordable and Flexible Air and Water Control Strategies
Hidden opportunities for improving home energy and environmental performance include inexpensive filtration approaches that clear the air we breathe, and simple and reliable water system design strategies that reduce the amount of hot water needed for bathing, washing clothes and washing dishes. This seminar highlights challenges and opportunities to better understand and control exposure to ultrafine particulate matter in homes. Domestic hot water design and control strategies to minimize the amount of water in the distribution system along with optimizing consumption requirements are addressed.
ASHRAE’s Duct Size Calculator Tool for Easy, Reliable Residential Duct Sizing
ASHRAE has developed a new duct calculator tool that uses the results of ASHRAE research to provide practitioners with better and quicker ways to size/design duct systems – particularly for flexible ducts. This seminar discusses the research and methodology underlying the calculator tool and provides demonstrations and examples of how to use it in various residential applications and duct designs.
Refrigerants Track
Lubricant Changes for Low GWP Next Generation Equipment
This seminar focuses on the lubricant changes and challenges needed for next generation refrigerants and replacement for R123, R134a, R404A and R410A.
Some Low GWP Next Generation Refrigerants Will Be Flammable: What Does It Mean to Be Flammable?
This seminar focuses on the fundamentals of flammability, issues in handling flammable refrigerants and ASHRAE and industry funded research into flammable refrigerants. Product and standard changes needed to handle flammable refrigerants are also discussed.
Next Generation of Lower or Low GWP Next Generation HVAC&R Equipment
New lower and low GWP next generation refrigerants are being offered in equipment today in the market place. This seminar focuses on the type of new equipment being offered with lower GWP refrigerants and also includes retrofitting of equipment with high GWP HFC’s with lower GWP refrigerants. Seminar topics include discussions on new equipment in the area of chillers, unitary, commercial refrigeration, portable HVAC&R equipment and retrofitting of existing R404A commercial refrigeration with lower GWP refrigerants.
Contaminant Control: What Is the Same and What Is New When Using Low GWP Refrigerants?
This seminar focuses on the contaminant control needs, differences and experiences when using next generation low GWP refrigerant-containing products.
For more information about the speakers and when the sessions take place, visit www.ashrae.org/chicago. Professional Development Hours will be available for each of the sessions.
In addition to exhibitor presentations, demonstrations and seminars, the AHR Expo Innovation Awards will honor the most inventive and original products, systems and technologies showcased at the expo.
The AHR Expo hosts more than 2,000 exhibitors and attracts crowds of 65,000 industry professionals from every state in America and 165 countries worldwide during the three day exhibit. For complete conference and expo information, visit the 2018 ASHRAE Winter Conference and the AHR Expo websites.
ASHRAE Publishes 2017 Version of Thermal Comfort Standard
Standard 55-2017 now includes calculations from direct solar radiation
ATLANTA – The 2017 edition of ASHRAE’s major thermal comfort standard has been published to incorporate seven published addenda to the 2013 edition.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy, simplifies the language of the 2013 standard and clarifies the three comfort calculation approaches in Section 5.3.3, “Elevated Air Speed.” The 2017 edition includes a new requirement to calculate the change in occupants’ thermal comfort from direct solar radiation.
“The updates to Standard 55-2017 are the result of a continuing series of modifications made based on new research, experience, and proposals from designers, manufacturers and users,” says Abhijeet Pande, chair of the Standard 55 committee. “Standard 55 has been rewritten with a renewed focus on application of the standard by practitioners and use of clear, enforceable language.”
The three comfort calculations methods provided in the 2017 edition are:
- a graphic method for simple situations,
- an analytical method for more general cases, and
- a method that uses elevated air speed to provide comfort.
Other additions include simplification of Appendix A to a single procedure for calculating operative temperature; clearly stated requirements and calculation procedures appearing sequentially; an update to the scope to ensure the standard is not used to override health, safety; critical process requirements; and removal of permissive language.
The cost of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017 is $89 for ASHRAE members ($105, non-members). To order, visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore or contact ASHRAE Customer Contact Center at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada), 404-636-8400 (worldwide) or fax 678-539-2129.
