Vapor from electronic cigarettes is now included in the most recent version of ASHRAE’s indoor air quality HVAC construction standard.

The new version of Standard 62.1, which covers ventilation and air quality in commercial and institutional buildings, adds the vapor from e-cigarettes and the secondhand smoke from marijuana under the standard’s definition of “environmental tobacco smoke.”

The standard also revises operation and maintenance requirements for commercial buildings, said Hoy Bohannon, chairman of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers committee that wrote the standard.  

“The latest version of Standard 62.1 contains changes that affect high rise residential spaces, the indoor air quality procedure, laboratory exhaust and demand control ventilation,” Hoy said. “Designers and users of the standards who are involved with those spaces or processes will benefit from using the up-to-date requirements.”

As ASHRAE announced earlier, multifamily residential units have been removed from the standard and are now covered in Standard 62.2, Bohanon added. Common spaces such as corridors, lobbies, fitness rooms, remain in 62.1

The full standard is available for purchase at www.ashrae.org/bookstore.