|
Air Conditioning Inspections
Building owners or managers who operate air conditioning (AC) systems have a statutory obligation and duty of care under the 2003 European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in respect of the operation and maintenance of their AC system.
The Directive requires all air conditioning systems (domestic, commercial and public) to be inspected by an accredited Energy Assessor with the aim of improving efficiency and reducing electricity consumption, operating costs and carbon emissions.
Systems with a total effective rated output greater than 250Kw must be inspected immediately (the deadline for compliance was January 2009) and those with a total effective rated output greater than 12Kw must be inspected by 4th January 2011 (a single average cartridge AC unit = 5Kw).
Nemco offer a comprehensive service designed to meet the new requirements for AC testing with a panel of approved inspectors operating UK wide. The inspections and resulting reports are CLG (Communities and Local Government) and CIBSE TM44 compliant and can be uploaded direct to the Governments ‘Landmark’ database on completion.
The report will concentrate on:
o The potential for reducing energy consumption
o Identification of inefficient plant
o Recommendations for simple and low cost system modifications
o Assessment of current cleaning and maintenance regimes
o Evaluation of user operation
o Major system and controls defects
The findings of the assessment may include recommendations and measure that could be taken to improve the efficiency of the system, such as improvements to the maintenance regime, operational changes or component / total system replacement.
Often the implementation of the recommended actions results in a reduction in electricity consumption, operating costs and carbon emissions as well as an improvement of the energy rating for the building (as calculated for an Energy Performance Certificate or Display Energy Certificate).
Inspection, maintenance and cleaning programs ensure the ability of the system to provide healthy and comfortable environments for building occupants, limiting the escape of refrigerant gases and ensuring the safety of equipment. Resulting from the findings of the assessment, recommended regimes may include filter cleaning or changing, fan changing, condensate line cleaning and replacement or system upgrades.
The F Gas Regulations require that AC systems be tested to ensure there is no escape of fluorinated greenhouses gases. This should take place:
- at least once every twelve months for applications containing 3kg or more of F gases (this shall not apply to equipment with hermetically sealed systems, which are labelled as such and contain less than 6kg of F gases)
- at least once every 6 months for applications containing 30kg or more of F gases
- at least once every 3 months for applications containing 300kg or more of F gases
Nemco are able to arrange F Gas Testing upon request.
If you require further information, or would like your air conditioning system to be tested or assessed, please contact the Business Development Team on 0800 074 1237 or sales@nemco-utilities.co.uk
|
