ATLANTA — Multifamily units in all types of buildings are now covered in the scope of ASHRAE’s residential IAQ standard, marking one of the biggest changes to the recently published 2016 version. ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2016, “Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings,” defines the roles of and minimum requirements for mechanical and natural ventilation systems and the building envelope intended to provide acceptable indoor air quality in residential buildings. Prior to this edition, multifamily residential buildings four stories or taller fell under the scope of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1, “Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality.” Now the dwelling units themselves are covered by 62.2, regardless of building height, while common areas of those buildings remain in the scope of 62.1, according to Paul Francisco, chair of the Standard 62.2 committee. Francisco said the change provides 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 four-story-and-taller buildings. For the retrofit market, this change will result in coverage by ASHRAE ventilation standards for the first time in residential dwellings in four-story-and-taller buildings. The 2016 standard also includes a method of claiming an infiltration credit for horizontally attached units. Another major change in the standard provides a means of determining equivalency for a variety of ventilation scheduling strategies. This change also includes a maximum short-term exposure to make sure that meeting annual equivalence does not unduly compromise short-term IAQ. To order, visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore or contact ASHRAE Customer Contact Center at 800-527-4723 (U.S. and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide) or fax 678-539-2129. For more information, visit www.ashrae.org/news.

Publication date: 4/25/2016