Indoor Air Quality Disasters: How Liable Are You as an HVAC Professional?

Did you know that an HVAC contractor may be liable when an indoor air quality (IAQ) issue is directly linked to a defect in the air-conditoning, heating or ventilation system?

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, HVAC systems contribute to poor air quality through insufficient design and ventilation system deficiencies. Contaminant buildup in ventilation systems as well as improper temperature and humidity conditions are all causes.

A properly designed, installed, operated and maintained HVAC system distributes air adequately to remove odors, fumes and other indoor air contaminants.

The design of the ventilation system should address the size of the space as well as the number of occupants and any special uses. Facilities with higher amounts of emissions, such as laboratories, printing businesses or woodworking shops, require more extensive ventilation systems to expel the contamination source.

While some of the contaminants contributing to poor indoor air quality are found in products used within the operation processes of the facility, other contaminants may be introduced by the HVAC contractor.

Job site operations can disturb asbestos, lead and other contaminants. Materials used in the project may spill or leak during construction. Indoor pollution liability claims can result when a contractor is negligent in providing adequate controls for hazardous materials during construction or a renovation.

A contractor could be found responsible for air quality issues, particularly if the company failed to properly design/install the system, failed to provide appropriate drawings and obtain permits, used hazardous materials and installed the units in violation of local building codes.

Outdoor air entering a building, particularly from motor vehicle exhaust and other emissions, may affect indoor air quality. Circulating outside air through the HVAC system dilutes the indoor pollutants released by equipment, building materials, and other products.

A HVAC contractor may face liability if the pollutants are entering the building due to poorly located air intake vents or if the building is not receiving an adequate supply of outside air.

Ventilation systems must comply with the standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). These standards, established in 1989, are voluntary standards (they’re only enforceable if the state or city adopts them into its building code) set to address minimum ventilation rates acceptable to people with the goal of minimizing adverse health effects.

The standards vary based on the type of operation, the building, the activities performed within the building, the equipment housed in the building and the occupancy. ASHRAE sets standards that specify the amount of outside air (cubic feet per minute) that must be brought into the building to maintain proper indoor air quality. When rooms in a building are used for purposes outside of the original design, the HVAC system may require modification.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance can protect an HVAC contractor, but coverage does not always extend to air quality issues. Some insurers offer separate policies particularly for air quality and  professional liabilities.

According to Bill Pritchard, the President of Beacon Hill Associates Inc., an insurance broker specializing in environmental and contractors pollution liability insurance, CGL insurance does not usually cover pollution claims resulting from on-site plan modifications made by the contractor to make the sytem work and the actual design work performed. CGL insurance also does not cover the subcontractor’s work.

Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) insurance is designed to protect an insured’s operations from third party claims relevant to damage from air quality issues. Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called errors and omissions (E&O), is a liability insurance that protects companies from bearing the costs of defending against negligence claims by clients.

Both policies bridge the gap between CGL coverage and professional liability exclusions. Because air quality issues and professional liability are generally excluded from CGL policies, it’s important for HVAC contractors to have comprehensive coverage that protects them fully from such potential claims.

Next Steps

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Hurricane Irene Tests HVAC Construction and HVAC Maintenance

As Hurricane Irene made landfall over the weekend, many nuclear power plants made preparations to shut down if needed. Fortunately, Irene was downgraded from a Category 2 hurricane to a Category 1 and no major problems were reported at any power plant. Millions do remain without power but the the plants themselves are intact and out of harms way.

Hurricane Irene is the latest reminder that natural disasters can wreak havoc on power plants. For example, below is a chilling video of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska after a flood wall failed this past spring.

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Goodway Presents: HVAC Jargon (Part 2) – Attack of the Acronyms

Here come the acronyms!

Every industry has an alphabet soup of acronyms and abbreviations that can make it hard to understand some of the more technical aspects of a business. So, for those of you who are professional building and facility managers but don’t have particular expertise in HVAC, here is a look at some of those ACRONYMS and what they really mean:

SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating. It is a measure of how much cooling you get out of an air conditioner for every unit of energy you put in. The higher the SEER number, the more efficient your unit is considered to be. SEER tries to take into account the fact that air conditioners have to work at a variety of temperatures.

In technical terms, SEER is a measure of BTUs of cooling output per watt-hour of energy consumed. A unit with a SEER rating of 14, for example, it will generate 14 BTUs of cooling power for every watt- hour of electricity it consumes. Since the government changed the rules in 2006, all newly-made systems must be at least 13 SEER.

MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) is a method created by ASHRAE to testing and rate air filters, to assess how effective filters are at removing particles from a stream of air. Formally dubbed ANSI/ASHRAE Standard Test Procedure 52.2, the procedure assigns a number to each filter tested based on how good a job it does removing particles from a moving stream of air.

The test involves creating particles of known sizes and quantities and releasing those particles into a stream of air that passes through a filter. Measurements of how many of those particles pass through the filter and how many it catches will lead to the assignment of a MERV rating for that filter of from 1 to 16, with 16 being the best and 1 being, well, not the best.

BacNet stands for Building Automation Control NETwork, and it is the set of rules governing how various pieces of HVAC equipment communicate with each other. BACNet has actually been around for more than 25 years, and has been deployed in thousands of buildings.

Think of BACNet as the industry equivalent of the internet – a complete set of rules governing how boilers, thermostats, chillers, vents, motors, lights, emergency systems and other equipment talk to one another.

The BACNet organization makes sure that any devices that want to utilize BACNet will work together, and even has a testing lab to make sure they do. And more than 450 companies have taken advantage of BACNET to make products that comply with the BAC standards as promulgated by both ASHRAE and ISO.

The Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) rating is a measure of the thermal efficiency of a given piece of combustion equipment. The higher the AFUE, the more efficiently a device converts energy into heat. An AFUE rating is not just a snapshot measurement; rather it seeks to take into account actual operating results under a variety of conditions.

AFUE is calculated using ASHRAE Standard 103 (2007). It assigns a percentage to a given furnace or boiler which represents the percentage of a fuel going in comes out as heat. The US Department of Energy is calling for gas furnaces to have a minimum AFUE of 80% and for oil-foiled boilers to be rated at a minimum of 83%.

We hope these explanations helped give you some insight into the more technical aspects of HVAC. Let us know if there are any other acronyms or terms you’d like us to look at in future posts.

Rich Silverman
Goodway Blogging Team

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Goodway Presents: Energy Department Updates O&M Guide

Here at Goodway Just Venting , we try to keep you up-to-date on the subject of building maintenance and operations with an emphasis on HVAC systems.  We have written about boilers, chillers, cooling towers and everything in between.

But we are just one blog, a tiny island in a vast sea of technological, political, legal and cultural changes.  Well,  Uncle Sam has come to our – and your – aid, to help us all navigate these increasingly challenging waters.

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New Laws Create New Challenges – LEED V3, ASHRAE 189.1 and CalGreen

We at Just Venting have always kept you posted on key developments in the industry – especially about all the new regulations that will affect you in the future. LEED V3, ASHRAE 189.1 and CalGreen are all important pieces of legislation, and they will affect the way we do business for years to come. And while they may approach it from different directions – and they may from time to time come into conflict with one another – the one thing that all these new laws have in common is that they want us to use less energy.

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ASHRAE President Sees A Busy Year Ahead For The Industry, Part 1

2009 was not a fun year. So we at Just Venting are resisting the temptation to look back and see where we were and what happened. Rather, we choose to look forward to the coming year. What does 2010 hold in store? What are the trends and issues that will shape how we will do business next year, in five years and even further into the future?

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Energy and the Economy: Report Says U.S. Can Save $1.2 Trillion through Energy Efficiency Measures

McKinsey & Company, the worldwide management consulting firm, has released a report that highlights the connection between energy and the economy by demonstrating that the U.S. could save up to $1.2 through the use of non-transportation energy efficiency measures.

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HVAC Industry on Alert for Defective Chinese Drywall

“Copper coils in some a/c units are corroding and the HVAC industry is on alert.” That’s the lead-in to a recent story from ACHR News that probably deserves your attention if you work in any part of this industry (“Coil Corrosion May Be Result of Imported Drywall Defects,” June 22).

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Cogeneration, a.k.a. Combined Heat and Power, May Be the Future of HVAC

Diagram illustrating the cogeneration process

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If you haven’t already heard of cogeneration, chances are that you’ll be hearing a lot more about it in the near future. That’s because it represents one of the most effective approaches for optimizing building energy use. It’s also because our current political and cultural trajectory strongly favors this type of technology. And HVAC is one of the major areas that can benefit from it.

COGENERATION: DEFINITION AND HISTORY

Cogeneration, which is also widely known as combined heat and power or CHP, is defined by the EPA as “the generation of electricity and the capture and use of otherwise wasted heat energy byproducts.” Wikipedia offers a slightly more detailed definition/description when it explains cogeneration as “the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.”

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In Tough Economic Climate, Look for Low-Cost HVAC (and Other) Energy-Saving Opportunities

With the news media being increasingly populated by stories about the “green shoots” that may portend the bottoming of the recession and beginning of economic recovery, it’s a good time to pause for a reality check, especially if you’re someone with a professional stake in a commercial building — as in, you’re a facility manager, building owner, maintenance worker, equipment installer, office worker, or anybody else involved with the life of the place.

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