Status of Revisions to ASHRAE Standard 62

Abstract

The American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62- 1989 "Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor air Quality", adopted in 1989, is widely used by HVAC engineers to determine ventilation rates for various occupancies. This standard has also been cited in court to help demonstrate compliance with state-of the- art indoor environmental design. In August 1996, ASHRAE released for public review Standard 62-1989R, the highly controversial proposed revisions to the Standard 62- 1989. Over 8,000 comments were received on the proposed revision. Due to the significant number of concerns expressed by ASHRAE members as well as others, ASHRAE withdrew the proposed new standard and placed the current standard in "continuous maintenance." As part of the continuous maintenance process ASHRAE is transforming the current Standard 62- 1989 from a design standard to code ready document. Furthermore, two code documents will be produced4ne for low-rise residential buildings and another for other types of occupancy. Finally, two new documents, a user's manual and an IAQ guideline, will be written concurrent with the code documents. The guideline document is intended to provide state-of-the-art guidance to designers while good IAQ practices not appropriate for codification will be incorporated into the guideline. It is likely that many of the provision in Standard 62-1989R will survive in some manner in one or more of the new documents to be produced. This paper will detail some of the more significant changes that were proposed in Standard 62-1989R and review the current state of standard development.