Updated Air Balance Standards Manual Includes New Chapter on Testing, Balancing Healthcare Facilities

The Associated Air Balance Council has released the AABC National Standards for Total System Balance, 7th Edition. The manual, last updated in 2002, details the minimum standards for total system balance, assists design professionals in achieving design intent and ensures that proper methods and procedures are followed. The updated manual contains a new chapter on “Testing and Balancing Health Care Facilities.”

The new healthcare chapter covers testing and balancing of systems presented in ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2008 Ventilation of Health Care Facilities, NFPA 99-2005 Standard for Health Care Facilities and FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities.

Healthcare chapter sub-topics include:

• Pressurization
• Duct design
• Operating rooms (including OR energy efficiency)
• Humidity
• Airborne infection isolation rooms
• Procedures for measuring room pressures
• Smoke testing for direction of airflow
• Reporting procedures
• Heating
• Outdoor air intakes and exhaust discharge
• Filtration

For the first time, this newest edition is American National Standards Institute approved. ANSI approval signifies that the procedures used by AABC in connection with the development of the standards meet the institute’s essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process. For details, visit aabc.com.