AHRI, ASHRAE Set New Standards for a New Era

As fuel oil is changing ‘ sulfur is subtracted, biofuel is added ‘ so too is equipment changing. Manufacturers turn to certain recognized industry authorities to verify, for example, that new designs and enhancements for burners and boilers do what they’re supposed to do. That’s where the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), headquartered in Arlington, Va., and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), based in Atlanta, Ga., come in.
‘We represent only manufacturers,” said AHRI Vice President of Public Affairs Francis Dietz. The 300 member companies of AHRI produce more than 90 percent of the residential and commercial air conditioning, heating, water heating, and commercial refrigeration equipment made in North America, according to the institute’s website. Its certification program, standards, advocacy and other activities are designed to save energy, improve productivity, and ‘ensure a better environment,” AHRI states.
‘We’re a major standards developer,” Deitz said. ‘We have over one hundred standards and guidelines, most of which are American National Standards ‘ under the American National Standards Institute” or ANSI.
‘The standards are what manufacturers use to manufacture their equipment,” Deitz said. ‘Many of them participate in our certification programs whereby the equipment that they’ve manufactured