Apartments and condominiums of any height would fall under one ASHRAE IAQ standard, under a new society HVAC construction proposal.

Currently, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ standard 62.1, “Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality,” covers residential structures 4 stories or more, while smaller buildings are under standard 62.2.

Ventilation rates in the two standards are different, which concerns some people, said 62.1 committee chairman Roger Hedrick.

Standard 62.1 does not handle modest HVAC construction retrofit projects while standard 62.2 does.

“The retrofit market is a major user of ASHRAE ventilation standards,” he said. “This will allow for consistency across dwelling units and also allow application of ASHRAE ventilation standards to the multifamily retrofit market.”

The public is invited to comment on the HVAC market changes until May 4 at this website.

“The standards 62.1 and 62.2 committees are proposing scope changes that would result in the dwelling units of all multifamily buildings being covered by Standard 62.2,” said Paul Francisco, chairman of the Standard 62.2 committee. “Common areas would be covered by 62.1. This will provide consistency of ventilation requirements for dwelling units regardless of building height.  For new construction, this will result in a change of requirements for dwelling units in 4-plus story buildings. For the retrofit market, this change will result in coverage by ASHRAE ventilation standards for the first time in 4-plus story buildings.”