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Air
Conditioning Inspection
|
AC
Inspections are a requirement of Part 4 of the EPB Regulations.
Their
official title is the “Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and
Inspections) (
These
regulations require regular visual inspection, by an Accredited Inspector, of
all air conditioning systems with rated outputs over 12 kW at intervals not
greater than 5 years. This requirement of the regulations is being phased
in, with Phase 1 requiring the first inspection to have taken place by 4th
January 2009 on AC systems with an rated output greater than 250kW. Phase
2 requires all the rest to have been inspected by 4th January 2011.
Enforcement will be by Trading Standards Officers and building owners
failing to meet the deadlines face fines between £300 and £5,000, depending on
the size of the buildings.
The
primary aim of this visual inspection is to give building owners and operators
information about the performance of their buildings and plant, and to identify
opportunities to save energy and cut operating costs. A report of the air
conditioning inspection has to be prepared and signed by the Inspector, and
should include at least the following details.
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Details of the property
and the inspector:
·
the address,
name, or other unique identifier of the property
·
the name of
the owner or manager of the building
·
the
inspector's name, affiliation, and status (e.g. 'approved by [name of
accreditation body]')
·
the date of
the inspection.
Details of the systems
inspected:
·
physical
descriptions of the systems inspected, including the type of system (e.g.
unitary, split, multi-split)
·
an inventory
of equipment inspected, including makes, models and serial numbers (if readily
accessible), and their ratings
·
the locations
of the outdoor equipment and the areas served (including the locations of
indoor equipment).
Details of the results
of the inspection:
·
the results of
any measurements or calculations reviewed or made for the inspection
·
comments on
the likely efficiency of the installation and any suggestions made for
improvement
·
comments on
any faults identified during the inspection and suggested actions
·
comments on
the adequacy of equipment maintenance and any suggestions made for improvement
·
comments on
the adequacy of installed controls and control settings and any suggestions
made for improvement
·
comments on
the size of the installed system in relation to the cooling load and any
suggestions for improvement
One
of the problems with all this is that the inspector has to be Accredited, i.e.
he/she has to have undertaken the appropriate training, shown that they are
professionally competent, can produce a good standard of report, and have
signed up to a Code of Conduct.
The
fortunate thing is that GEGS is fully accredited by the Chartered Institute of
Building Services Engineers to carry out inspections on both Complex and
Packaged Systems.
The
amount of time required to carry out an inspection comes down to how much
information is available on the AC system concerned, taken together with how
big it is and how old it is. The higher timescales have come about where
there are no schematic diagrams or zoning diagrams, for example – it is a
requirement of the Regulations that, where they do not exist, the Inspector has
to produce them as part of his report.
The
CIBSE Technical Memorandum for this work sets out the following three levels of
information to be provided to the Inspector, where available:
Essential Information
·
Itemised list of
installed air conditioning and refrigeration plant including product makes,
models and identification numbers, together with cooling capacities, with
locations of the indoor and outdoor components of each plant.
·
Description of
system control zones, with schematic drawings.
·
Description of
method of control of temperature.
·
Description of
method of control of periods of operation.
·
Floor plans
and schematics of air conditioning systems.
Desirable Information
·
Reports from
earlier inspections of air conditioning systems, and for the generation of an
energy performance certificate.
·
Records of
maintenance operations carried out on refrigeration systems, including cleaning
indoor and outdoor heat exchangers, refrigerant leakage tests, repairs to
refrigeration components or replenishing with refrigerant.
·
Records of
maintenance operations carried out on air delivery systems, including filter
cleaning and changing, and cleaning of heat exchangers.
·
Records of
calibration and maintenance operations carried out on control systems and
sensors, or BMS systems and sensors.
·
Records of
sub-metered air conditioning plant use or energy consumption.
·
For relevant
air supply and extract systems, commissioning results of measured absorbed
power at normal air delivery and extract rates, and commissioning results for
normal delivered delivery and extract airflow rates (or independently calculated
specific fan power for the systems).
Optional Information
·
An estimate of
the design cooling load for each system (if available). Otherwise, a brief
description of the occupation of the cooled spaces, and of power consuming
equipment normally used in those spaces.
·
Records of any
issues or complaints that have been raised concerning the indoor comfort
conditions achieved in the treated spaces.
·
Where a BMS is
used the manager should arrange for a short statement to be provided describing
its capabilities, the plant it is connected to control, the set points for the
control of temperature, the frequency with which it is maintained, and the date
of the last inspection and maintenance.
·
Where a
monitoring station, or remote monitoring facility, is used to continually
observe the performance of equipment such as chillers, the manager should
arrange for a statement to be provided describing the parameters monitored, and a statement
reviewing the operating efficiency of the equipment.
If
any of the information listed under “Essential” is not available,
then it would have to be prepared as part of the inspection process.
Contact Information
Telephone
+44
(0)1480 471733
FAX
+44
(0)1480 393955
Postal address
1
Avenue Road, St Neots, Cambs.