ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) announced two new certification programs: Central Station Air-handling Unit Casings (AHUC) and Liquid-to-Liquid Brazed & 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,” were published the week of Dec. 1 and 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 Btuh and flow rates up to 1,200 gallons per minute (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 Bill Tritsis, vice president of certification, AHRI. “AHRI programs have served the HVACR 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, which ensures that various types of HVACR and water heating equipment performs 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 standard or specification.

Publication date: 12/22/2014

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