Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) News & Trends

As the novel COVID-19 continues its global spread, the importance of ensuring healthy indoor air quality is paramount to helping lower the curve of infections. Studies have demonstrated higher ventilation rates have a direct impact on lowering the spread of microbials in workplaces and other occupied spaces. ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, specifies minimum ventilation rates and other measures for new and existing buildings to provide acceptable indoor air qu...

Good news for building owners, engineers/architects, and HVAC contractors who can now save energy, construction costs, and space in commercial facilities with this latest approved code addition. Doorway air curtains were approved June 25, 2019 as alternatives to vestibules on most commercial building entries in the upcoming ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019 “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low Rise Residential Buildings.” The professional association’s approved addition requires...

Johnson Controls Chairman and CEO, George Oliver, reaffirmed that the Company is delivering 'essential products, services, and personnel' during the COVID-19 pandemic. "At times like these, it is critically important to reach out and let people know that we are here and that we continue to help hospitals, pharmacies and other essential businesses as needed to continue their operations," said Oliver. The Company first responded to the developing crisis in Wuhan, China where its local personnel i...

Hi-line Industries, a supplier to the compressed air sector, has a solution for all companies seeking a temporary way of delivering high-quality, dry compressed air. An affordable and responsive rental scheme is now in place at the company, covering Hi-line’s comprehensive range of compressed air dryers. Although hiring a compressor is easy enough for short-batch emergency runs or exceptionally busy periods, finding specialist drying equipment is not so straightforward. And yet air qualit...

Trade associations and membership societies representing North America's Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration industry requested that federal, state, and local authorities grant "essential business" status to those technicians and engineers who are tasked with keeping the American people productive, healthy, and comfortable in these trying times. The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) joined with nine other organizations, representing the HVACR an...

Bob’s Heating & Air Conditioning is happy to announce that that they are open for business under modified circumstances. All employees are practicing safe social distancing and additional recommended best practices for working, in lieu of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The company’s teams continue to adapt to the latest mandates and promote healthy, safe work environments. Bob’s Heating & Air Conditioning strives to make this uncertain period as comfortable as possible...

Johnson Controls announced the release of Enterprise Management 2.2, an advanced version of the cloud-based analytics platform designed to help enterprises get the most out of their buildings. This innovative platform allows organizations to turn insights into action, helping meet energy, sustainability and occupant satisfaction goals. Enterprise Management gives organizations and a user’s insight into, and control of, energy usage; asset performance; space utilization and tenant manageme...

Schneider Electric is one of fifteen manufacturers and ten wholesalers who have signed up as founder members of EDATA, a new ‘By the industry for the industry’ product data pool. EDATA strategic initiative EDATA is the latest strategic initiative from the Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA) under their EDA Data Services banner. E-commerce and digital transformation are inextricably linked to the availability of the highest quality product data, and EDATA offers manufa...

Globally renowned provider of underfloor air conditioning systems, AET Flexible Space has completed the supply and commissioning of underfloor air conditioning equipment at 42 Berners Street, Fitzrovia, in London, United Kingdom.  The 27,300 sq. ft. building, part of the Berners-Allsopp Estate is a high quality new build development created through the demolition of two town houses, offering 22,000 sq. ft. office accommodation on five of the seven floors and retail at basement and ground l...

Anna Jaques Hospital opened as a small community medical facility in 1884. The main building was constructed at the turn of the 20th century and then greatly expanded in the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s time frame. As part of the HVAC design, 100% outdoor air handling systems serving the expanded facility were equipped with energy recovery wheels (also known as ‘enthalpy wheels’), in order to minimize the heating and cooling costs associated with 24/7 operation. ERV techn...

The Wilo Group celebrates the official opening of its new subsidiary Wilo Chile SpA in the Chilean capital. "The Wilo Group has been active in Latin America for over 20 years. With the investment in our subsidiary in Chile, we are taking into account the strategic importance of this market", said Svenja Ahlburg, Group Director Sales Area Latin America in her opening speech. "In recent years Chile has developed into one of the most stable and fastest-growing countries in Latin America, thus suppo...

Schneider Electric, a globally renowned company in energy management and automation, has donated Easy9 products to Weston College in Weston-Super-Mare, to support the training of the next generation of electricians. With over 150 electrical students ranging from full-time level one to level three apprenticeships, the college runs multiple electrical courses allowing students to gain the hands-on skills and knowledge needed to open up career opportunities.  Easy9 pallets The donation by S...

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of news about the Coronavirus (COVID-19). It is on the front pages of all the newspapers and the media talks about nothing else. What exactly is it? Coronaviruses are a family of common viruses whose name comes from the crown-like projections that form on their surfaces. They can cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe respiratory syndromes such as MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome) and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)....

What would it be like to always have a technical advisor at one’s side when servicing pumps? Someone who is there to answer every question and solve every problem? Not possible? It is possible! This is made possible by the Wilo-Live Assistant, the mobile solution for all questions concerning pumps and pump system solutions of the Dortmund technology specialist. "In addition to efficient, reliable pumps, our customers and partners are increasingly attaching great importance to premium serv...

ASHRAE, a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment, has developed proactive guidance to help address coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) concerns with respect to the operation and maintenance of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. The ASHRAE COVID-19 Preparedness Resources webpage provides easily accessible resources from ASHRAE to building industry professionals. ASHRAE’s COVID-19 Preparedness Available on the webp...

Reliable Controls is pleased to announce the official release of the SETUP-Tool. The easy-to-use, handheld SETUP-Tool allows you to quickly calibrate airflow measurements on a MACH-ProAir™ or MACH-Air™ controller through the host controller’s SMART-Net port. Performing airflow calibration SETUP-Tool applications: The default configuration is a Flow tool that allows you to perform airflow calibration on MACH-ProAir and MACH-Air controllers. One can also configure the SETUP...

Berner announced that manufacturer representatives SRS Enterprises, Middletown, N.J., and R. Williamson & Associates LLC, Skokie, Ill., received the company’s “Rep of the Year-2019” honors in the buy/resell and commission sales categories, respectively. The awards were presented at the International Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating Exposition (AHR Expo 2020) February 3 in Orlando. Berner also honored four other manufacturer’s representative firms for outst...

Reliable Controls is pleased to extend the list of products they manufacture that comply with the Recast RoHS 2 Directive 2011/65/EU. RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances and restricts the use of certain hazardous materials in electrical and electronics products. Reliable Controls products In 2017 they announced RoHS 2 compliance for 10 core controller models. Effective today, this compliance extends to 14 Reliable Controls products: MACH-Pro1™ MACH-Pro2™ MACH-P...

Trane®, a foremost global provider of indoor comfort solutions and services, collaborated with ASHRAE® (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) and the Coulee Subsection of IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) to encourage La Crosse, Wis., students to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Nearly 250 eighth-grade students from 11 local middle schools visited Trane’s La Crosse facil...

Already backing its products with some of the industry’s strongest limited warranties, Amana brand Heating & Air Conditioning has announced new limited warranty enhancements for many of its air conditioning, heat pump, gas furnace and residential packaged products. Beginning February 1, 2020, a 2-Year Unit Replacement Limited Warranty will cover numerous Amana brand indoor comfort models should the heat exchanger or compressor fail on the original homeowner – provided that system...

Energy savings are usually a year-round concern for homeowners. The user wants to keep costs down, but still maximize the comfort. That’s where efficiency comes into play. Whether the HVAC system is heating or cooling the home, it always helps to keep on top of the maintenance plans. When the user runs the numbers with a truly efficient system, it’s easy to see how the user can keep those energy costs low. In the state of Indiana, the average residential electricity rate is around 1...

As globally renowned UK-based pharmaceutical and drug-maker company, Napp Pharmaceutical’s air conditioning and refrigeration service supplier, Adcock Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Ltd. (Adcock), recently carried out an energy inspection to keep them TM44 standard compliant. A TM44 standard compliance inspection is mandatory every five years, if air conditioning systems have a combined rated output of more than 12kw (kilowatts). Local councils can enforce a fine if an inspection is n...

LIXIL Americas, a globally renowned pioneering company in the field of water treatment and housing products, is pleased to announce that Beth Benevenia has been promoted to the position of Chief People Officer (CPO) for the Americas region. She will report to Steven Delarge, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President in the Americas region, and LIXIL Group Corporation CPO, Jin Montesano. Expansion of global HR team Beth Benevenia will join the global human resources team and will be taske...

international supplier of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) heating and cooling systems, has announced the introduction of kumo touch, a wall-mounted wireless remote controller with touchscreen operation designed to provide complete control of personal comfort. kumo touch wireless controller Compatible with all M-Series and P-Series residential products and CITY MULTI commercial products, kumo touch can be used with the kumo cloud mobile app and web service or as a standalone wall controller. ku...

Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US (METUS), the exclusive provider of Zoned Comfort Solutions and supplier of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) heating and cooling systems, introduces the PEFY-OA Ducted Outside Air Unit. The PEFY-OA is a high-performance indoor unit that improves comfort by pre-treating and filtering outside air before delivering it to each zone. Available in 36,000, 48,000, 72,000 and 96,000 BTUH capacities, the PEFY-OA has three modes of operation: cooling, heating and fan only....

Mark Keogh, President of the Electrical Industries Federation of Ireland (EIFI), is celebrating 30 years with Schneider Electric Ireland and 37 years in Ireland’s electrical industry. Mr. Keogh began his career as an Application Engineer at Schneider Electric in 1990. During the following years he has held positions in Engineering, Marketing and Sales and became the Vice President for Buildings & Industry in 2015. Electrical industry veteran Mark has been very active in the wider el...

LG Electronics USA’s Component Solutions division has launched the cutting-edge R1 Variable Speed Compressor. “The LG R1 variable speed compressor combines LG’s dedication to high-precision performance and energy-saving technology, providing OEMs and their customers with a durable, cost-efficient solution designed to meet the needs of most residential or light commercial applications,” said Minhee Jang, Director of Engineering and Quality, LG Component Solutions USA. LG...

Airxchange® warrants its products to Original Equipment Manufacturing customers for a period of 5 years ‘parts only’. This warranty is for all components except the drive motor, which carries the motor manufacturer’s warranty. Most OEM’s pass this warranty along to the end user. The Airxchange® warranty is longer than most OEM product warranties. Therefore there is a multiple year period from the time the OEM warranty expires and the Airxchange® warranty expi...

Airxchange warrants its products to Original Equipment Manufacturing customers for a period of 5 years ‘parts only’. This warranty is for all components except the drive motor which carries the motor manufacturer’s warranty. Most OEM’s pass this warranty along to the end user. The Airxchange warranty is longer than most OEM product warranties. Therefore there is a multiple-year period from the time the OEM warranty expires and the Airxchange warranty expires. Airxchange...

Malco Products SBC the nation’s renowned manufacturer of high-quality tools for the HVAC trade market (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), has announced that it launched a new size of its best-selling C-RHEX driver. C-RHEX magnetic hex drivers Designed with HVAC professionals in mind, Malco’s cleanable, reversible magnetic hex drivers do double-duty with “2-EZ Technology” that ensure 5/16-inch and 3/8-inch hex drives are always at-hand. Featuring single-piece st...