by Brianna Crandall — December 15, 2014—The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) recently announced two new certification programs: Central Station Air-handling Unit Casings (AHUC) and Liquid-to-Liquid Brazed and Fusion Bonded Plate Heat Exchangers (LLBF). The two new programs join AHRI’s 41 other programs, all of which verify the performance ratings for more than 40 product categories via random selection and annual testing at third-party laboratories.
AHRI Standards 1350 (I-P) and 1351 (SI), Mechanical Performance Rating of Central Station Air-handling Unit Casings, will serve as the rating standards for the new AHUC certification program. When paired with AHRI’s existing Central Station Air-handling Unit Supply Fan, Forced Circulation Air-cooling & Air-heating Coils, and Air-to-Air Energy Recovery Ventilators certification programs, the new program can help ensure the overall performance of an air-handling unit. The AHUC program will verify casing deflection and casing air leakage and has the option of verifying thermal transmittance with leakage, thermal transmittance without leakage, and thermal bridging.
Products tested in the LLBF certification program are rated to AHRI Standard 400, Liquid-to-Liquid Heat Exchangers, which applies to production models of brazed and fusion bonded plate-type heat exchangers with heat duty up to 16 million Btu/h and flow rates up to 1,200 GPM, utilizing water and/or sea water as fluids and utilized in heating, cooling, and district energy HVAC applications. As with its gasketed plate-type liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger program, AHRI will offer specification sheet verification for this program, providing an additional layer of performance reliability.
“These new programs demonstrate our commitment to providing marketplace clarity and a level playing field for all manufacturers,” said Vice President of Certification Bill Tritsis. “AHRI programs have served the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and water heating industry for more than 50 years by independently verifying manufacturers’ performance ratings for a variety of equipment.”
The AHRI Product Performance Certification Programs are voluntary programs, administered and governed by AHRI, that ensure that various types of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and water-heating equipment perform according to manufacturers’ published claims. Products certified through the programs are continuously tested, at the direction of AHRI, by an independent third-party laboratory under contract to AHRI to determine the product’s ability to conform to one or more product rating standards or specifications.
