Introduction • During Ammonia Safety Audits: • Could not find ventilation calculations • Calculations don’t exist for some legacy systems • Difficult to determine calculation design basis: • What codes and standards were they designed to?
• Are ventilation systems in compliance? • Which codes and standards should they comply with?
Overview • Education was needed! • Started with IIAR Bulletin 111 • Discussed requirements internally • Discussed requirements at past IRC R&T Forum • Researched ventilation requirements per: • IIAR 2, • ASHRAE 15 • IMC • UMC/CMC • CSA B52 (Canadian Refrigeration Code)
Overview continued • My head was spinning! • A tool is needed – HELP!!! • Doug Reindl shared spreadsheet for IIAR Bulletin 111 (2009) • Listed all applicable codes and standards at the time (2002) • Updated spreadsheet to current codes and standards
• Chose to go with IIAR2-2008 requirements • Later switched to IIAR2-2008 Addendum A requirements
• Attempted to have some facilities fill in the facility specific data
• Good results proved difficult vie email and conference call • Auditing determined data was often incomplete or incorrect
Overview continued • Clarification was needed! • Added worksheets for: • Motors
• Exhaust fans (most recently added supply fans) • Machinery Room Information • Ventilation Evaluation (with conditional formatting) • Machinery Room Summary (with codes & standards calculations) • Facility Information • Related excerpts from codes and standards • (Only have permission from IIAR at this time)
• Needed to evaluate other refrigerants (CO2 audits) • The realization of what was needed kept growing
Overview continued • Completed testing the tool in 10 facilities • Started planning, appropriating money and installing • Then the cost of upgrading 50 machinery room
ventilation systems started to come into focus • We had to ask ourselves: • Do we really need to upgrade all of our machinery room
ventilation systems to the latest codes and standards? • What do you think?
Methods, Analysis, Issues • What about the code requirements to comply with
ASHRAE 15 and IIAR 2?
• IMC-2000-2012 1101.6 - Ammonia-refrigerating systems
shall comply with this code and, except as modified by this code, ASHRAE 15 and IIAR 2. • UMC-2009/CMC-2010 1102.0 - Except as modified by this
code, refrigeration systems shall comply with ASHRAE 15. In addition, ammonia refrigeration systems shall comply with IIAR 2. • Do we comply with codes and standards in effect at
the time of installation or last significant modification?
Methods, Analysis, Issues • The opportunity to collaborate with Doug Reindl (IRC) presented it’s
self at the 2011 IRC R&T Forum • In the analysis tool, we added the ability to: • Select the code or standard with which to evaluate a given installation (going
back to the early 1990’s) • Select Refrigerant type (2 categories – “Ammonia”, or all “Other” refrigerants) • Select Design Basis (and write an Evaluation Summary) • Input Refrigerant Detector, Occupancy and Weather information • Added conditional formatting to flag missing data and improvements that may
be needed • Added Link to REED Construction Data (which codes and standards apply?) • Enhanced other features of the tool
Methods, Analysis, Issues • The tool was peer reviewed and tested in the fall of
2012: • By IRC members and well known Design Engineers
• Feedback was incorporated into tool or explained
over the winter of 2013 • The tool was finalized in the spring of 2013 • Rolled out to IRC membership at IRC R&T Forum
in May 2013 • The tool will be available to contractors and
engineers through the IRC website
Results • Four years and 50 iterations later: • The Machinery Room Ventilation Analysis Tool V2.29
Recommendations? • Will this tool be of use to you and your company? • Is the tool intuitive enough for end users to
evaluate compliance correctly? • Is ventilation system training required? • Is codes and standards training required? • Should calculations be completed by a PE? • Any other recommendations?
