The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) mandates the inspection regime for air conditioning equipment within commercial buildings.
As a building manager or owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your system complies with the EPBD. If not, you will be fined for incorrect operating practices.
In this commercial air conditioning guide for businesses, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the regulations regarding commercial air conditioning units.
Commercial Air Conditioning Regulations
In 2018, new legislation was introduced for commercial buildings with air conditioning systems. These pieces of legislation set out guidelines surrounding the following:Â
F-Gas: Any business that uses refrigeration products that contain F-Gas (fluorinated greenhouse gases) must meet requirements regarding record keeping and maintenance.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC): All commercial properties that consist of more than 500 m2 of habitable space must hold an EPC by law.Â
TM44 Regulation: As part of the EPBD, building managers of properties that have an air conditioning system with an output of over 12kW are responsible for organising regular inspections.
Commercial air conditioning regulations: inspection and servicing requirements
As we mentioned, if your air conditioning system has an effective rated output of more than 12kW, then it should be regularly inspected by an accredited air conditioning energy assessor.Â
This assessor will highlight how the operation of existing systems can be improved or opportunities to replace older, less energy efficient systems, or oversized systems, with new energy efficient systems.
They will provide you with a report that shows you:Â
- The likely efficiency of the system and any suggestions for improvement
- Any faults identified during the inspection and suggested actions
- The adequacy of equipment maintenance and any suggestions for improvement
- The adequacy of the installed controls and control settings and any suggestions for improvement
- The current size of the installed system in relation to the cooling load and any suggestions for improvement
- Consideration of the capabilities of the system to optimise its performance under typical operating conditions
- A summary of the findings and the key recommendations
How regularly your air conditioning system should be inspected depends on the size and type of system you have in place. However, most F-gas systems should be inspected at least every 12 months. EPCs generally last for 10 years.Â
Here at JLA, we offer a range of single room, split unit wall-mounted and ceiling-cassette air conditioning solutions. Thanks to this, you can benefit from energy efficiency, centralised remote control options and quiet operation. If you’re interested in learning more, talk to our air conditioning experts today.Â