Hello,
I have a doubt regarding the need to ventilate refrigerated warehouses or storage rooms.
As per Addenda L of ASHRAE 62.1 - 2010, refrigerated strorage rooms with a cooling setpoint below 50ºF need to be ventilated. However, LEED interpretation #10423 states that it is not required to ventilate refrigerated storage rooms with a setpoint of 32ºF (0ºC) or lower.
There is also a doubt regarding the space's type as some of them may qualify as "Inactive Storages" as per definition 4 of IEQ Space Matrix.
1) Is it necessary to ventilated a refrigerated storage room below 32ºF (0ºC)?
2) There are 2 types of refrigerated rooms: refrigerated storage rooms used for storage purposes only (occupancy occurs daily, less than 15 min at a time and for retrieval purposes) and refrigerated rooms intended for both storaging purposes and for human activity (may be occupied for more than 15 min at a time for a given person). May any of these types be excluded from ventilation? My opinion is that only those inteded for human activity should be ventilated.
Thanks in advance!
Gustavo De las Heras Izquierdo
LEED Expert185 thumbs up
March 20, 2019 - 11:36 am
Hi Luis,
I think that LEED Interpretation takes precedence over ASHRAE's addenda.
If your cold storage area cannot be adjusted from below 32 °F (0 °C) to above 32 °F (0 °C), and if no combustion equipment (such as gas-operated forklifts) is operated in the space, you don't have to ventilate the cold room.
Regards,
Dave Hubka
Practice Leader - SustainabilityEUA
LEEDuser Expert
530 thumbs up
March 21, 2019 - 7:53 am
We have successfully used ASHRAE 62.1-2013 since it includes rooms kept below 50 degrees F (10 degrees C).
this has no area based or people based requirement, so if the space is unoccupied then ventilation is not required.