ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) has announced that its new standard on "Restoring the Cleanliness of HVAC Systems" has been formally recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a national standard.

The System Cleanliness Standard was developed to establish minimum criteria for the cleaning of HVAC systems that require cleaning activities beyond those performed in normal HVAC maintenance and servicing. This standard also outlines the procedures to control contaminants which may be released during or after the cleaning process, and to provide methods to verify system cleanliness.

According to Larry Sambrook, chair of the System Cleanliness Development Committee, the standard represents a breakthrough for the industry. "We finally have an industry-accepted, peer-reviewed standard that asserts when any portion of an HVAC system is cleaned that the balance of the entire HVAC system also must be considered for cleaning or replacement," he said.

John Sedine, chair of the ACCA Educational Institute Standards Task Team, added, "This standard recognizes that many HVAC systems are too young to be replaced, but have become way too dirty to provide clean indoor air. I am proud that ACCA undertook a leadership role in assuring that HVAC contractors are involved with bringing degraded systems back to safe and efficient operation."

The standard - ANSI/ACCA 6 HVAC System Cleanliness - 2007 (Restoring the Cleanliness of HVAC Systems) - is available for purchase from the ACCA Bookstore at www.acca.org/store (in the "New Products" section) or by calling 888-290-2220. Address any questions about the document to ACCA's Glenn Hourahan at glenn.hourahan@acca.org.

Publication date: 06/11/2007