Forum discussion
NC-2009 IEQc3.2: Construction IAQ Management Plan—Before Occupancy
1) Do mechanical rooms need air quality testing?
2) There is an air handler unit that supplies air to multiple floors. On one of these floors, the only room supplied by the air handler is a portion of the mechanical room. Does this room need to be tested?
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Dale Walsh
30 thumbs up
November 15, 2013 - 8:56 pm
Since mechanical rooms are usually not a regularly occupied space it would seem to go against the stated intent of the air testing credit of "to reduce indoor air quality (IAQ) problems resulting from construction or renovation to promote the comfort and well-being of construction workers and building occupants" it would appear that testing a mechanical room is not needed. I am not sure how air testing after construction and before occupancy promotes the well-being of construction workers but that is for another discussion.
I usually determine the number of samples based on number of floors, square footage per floor, and number of outdoor air (OA) intakes. For example, a 30,000 square foot single story building with one OA would require two sample sets. If it had three OA intakes I would take three sample sets representing the zones served by each OA intake. A ten story building with each floor less than 25,000 square feet and two OA intakes for each floor would get 20 sample sets. If each floor was greater than 25,000 square feet and less than 50,000 square feet the building would still get 20 sample sets. Of course, residential projects with each unit separately ventilated would require a different approach that would not include sampling each unit. I would not recommend less than two sample sets for any building because a single sample set is statistically meaningless (two are not much better but economics usually play a role). Of course, this is simply my approach and not approved by the USGBC or GBCI. However, I have not had it rejected when my clients (approximately 10 projects so far) have submitted my air testing report for the credit.
Carrie Laurendine
ArchitectChenevert Architects
27 thumbs up
November 18, 2013 - 6:00 pm
Thanks Dale. A follow up question to your reply:
Unfortunately in this project I am working on, the "ventilation systems" are anything but straight forward. for example, some air handlers provide air to multiple floors. Some air handlers provide air to two remote areas of a building on the same floor (but everything is open between them). Some open into atrium from above, and mixed with air from 3 other air handler units. There really isn't a simple way I know of (or that LEED manual prescribes) to determine testing locations. It is a 127,000 sq ft building (ish) and trying to be on safe side we currently show 15 testing locations. That seems very high but with so many AHU's supplying so many multiple floor situations/atria/and non-contiguous spaces - not sure there is any other way. I wish LEED was more forgiving in this regard. It is problematic that a team of professionals trying very hard to satisfy a requirement can faithfully do their best (and have owner spent a lot of money in the process) only to learn many months later the review team isn't satisfied over something that didn't exist in the LEED manual.