ARLINGTON, Va. - The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) has announced that it will develop standards on extended care for residential and commercial HVAC equipment.

The ACCA Educational Institute (ACCA-EI) Standards Task Team plans to create two standards to provide HVAC contractors with guidance on proper assessment and maintenance procedures to optimize operation, extended care, safety, and health of existing HVAC equipment, says the association. One standard will address residential systems and one will address commercial systems under 25 tons.

According to ACCA, the Task Team will produce procedural checklists of the inspection and assessment points within the HVAC system that require checking, cleaning, adjusting, and/or replacing on a periodic basis to confirm that the components are functioning safely, as designed, and at the highest level of operating efficiency.

The ACCA Educational Institute is one of over a hundred organizations that develops standards and supports the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the central body responsible for the identification of a single, consistent set of voluntary standards.

The ACCA-EI Standards Task Team is chaired by Phil Forner of Allendale Heating in Allendale, Mich. For more information on becoming involved in these initiatives, contractors may contact Dick Shaw at dick.shaw@acca.org.

Publication date: 10/18/2004