USA – The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) yesterday released a statement praising ASHRAE for their approval of Addendum d to ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, which states that systems including chilled beams are not required to use a filter. The revision to the current legislation is expected to come into effect in the 2016 edition of the standard, which is set to be published this October.

AHRI President and CEO Stephen Yurek welcomed the decision, commenting “Members of AHRI’s Chilled Beams Product Section worked diligently to provide this proposal to the 62.1 Committee. I am pleased to see their hard work pay off, and for the committee to accept our members’ proposal.”

The recently approved addendum will now add an exception to Section 5.8 of the standard, which currently requires that particulate matter filters or air cleaners be used for all cooling coils or other devices with wetted surfaces. The AHRI Chilled Beams Product Section decided to submit a recommendation for this addendum since sensible-only chilled beams would not require filtration for wetted surfaces, as the coil surface would never be wet. ASHRAE agreed to insert the addendum and, as a result, the 2016 edition of Standard 62.1 will include the exception for cooling coils that have been designed, controlled, and operated to provide sensible cooling only.