At the builder’s or owner’s option, HERS field verification and diagnostic testing shall be completed either for each system or dwelling unit, or alternatively for a sample from a designated group of systems or dwelling units. Field verification and diagnostic testing for compliance shall use the diagnostic procedures in Reference Nonresidential Appendix NA2. If the builder or owner elects to demonstrate HERS verification compliance utilizing group sampling, the applicable procedures described in NA1.6.2, NA1.6.3 and NA1.6.4 shall be followed.
The general requirements in NA1.6.1 are applicable to all measures that require HERS verification for compliance, and shall be incorporated into procedures specified in Sections NA1.6.2, NA1.6.3, and NA1.6.4 whenever applicable.
The builder or subcontractor shall make available to the HERS Rater a copy of the Certificate of Compliance approved/signed by the system designer/builder or owner, a copy of the Certificate of Installation as described in NA1.4, and a copy of the Certificate of Acceptance as described in NA1.5. Prior to performing field verification and diagnostic testing, the HERS Rater shall confirm that the Certificate of Installation and the Certificate of Acceptance have been completed as required, and that the installer’s diagnostic test results and all other Certificate of Installation and Certificate of Acceptance information indicate compliance consistent with the Certificate of Compliance.
The HERS Rater shall perform all applicable field verification and diagnostic testing.
If field verification and diagnostic testing determines that the requirements for compliance are met, the HERS Rater shall submit or make arrangements for submittal of the Certificate of Verification information to the HERS Provider data registry.
Authorized users of the HERS Provider data registry that are not certified HERS Raters may provide documentation author support to facilitate submittal of the Certificate of Verification information to the HERS Provider data registry on behalf of the HERS Rater when such facilitation has been authorized by the HERS Rater. Documentation authors shall provide an electronic signature to the Data Registry to certify the documentation is accurate and complete.
The Certificate of Verification shall be electronically signed by the HERS Rater who performed the field verification and diagnostic testing services to certify that the information provided on the Certificate is true and correct.
A completed signed registered copy of the Certificate of Verification shall be posted at the building site for review by the enforcement agency in conjunction with requests for final inspection. Alternatively, the enforcement agency may elect to view the certificates on an approved Data Registry.
The HERS Provider shall make document verification services available, to enforcement agencies, builders and contractors, HERS Raters, the Energy Commission, and other authorized users of the HERS Provider data registry.
The HERS Rater shall diagnostically test and field verify the first system or dwelling unit of each building when the builder elects to demonstrate HERS verification compliance utilizing group sampling. This initial testing allows the builder to identify and correct any potential construction flaws or practices in advance of subsequent further installations. If field verification and diagnostic testing determines that the requirements for compliance are met, the HERS Rater shall transmit the test results to the HERS Provider registry, whereupon the Provider shall make available a copy of the registered Certificate of Verification to the HERS Rater, the builder, and the enforcement agency.
After the initial field verification and diagnostic testing is completed, the builder or the HERS Rater shall identify a group of up to seven individual systems or dwelling units in the building from which a sample will be selected and identify the names and license numbers of the subcontractors responsible for the installations requiring field verification and diagnostic testing. The date the first system or dwelling unit in the group is identified shall establish the start date for the new opened sample group. The HERS Provider shall record and track the start date for each sample group.
If dwelling units have multiple measures requiring HERS verification installed, each dwelling unit in a designated group shall have the same measures requiring HERS verification as the other dwelling units in the designated group. If some dwelling units have installed a different set of measures requiring HERS verification, those dwelling units shall be in a separate group.
If the dwelling units in a designated group have multiple measures that require HERS verification, sample testing for individual measures may be conducted in any of the dwelling units in the group - it is not required that all of the sample tests for all of the individual measures be completed in the same dwelling unit. Individual measures shall be allowed to be included in a group regardless of whether compliance requires one sample test, or if compliance requires more than one sample test (up to100% sample test rate) be reported for such individual measures.
If dwelling units have central forced-air space conditioning equipment that introduces outside air into the conditioned space utilizing means that connect outside air ventilation ducts directly to the dwelling unit’s central forced air duct system (Central Fan-Integrated Ventilation System or CFI Ventilation System), the CFI ventilation technology shall be considered a separate measure for HERS verification sampling purposes, and dwellings with CFI ventilation systems shall be placed in separate groups from other dwelling units that do not utilize CFI ventilation technology.
For newly constructed buildings, systems or dwelling units in a designated group shall all be located within the same enforcement agency jurisdiction. Refer to Section NA1.8 for requirements for sample groups applicable to alterations.
The HERS Rater shall verify that a Certificate of Compliance a Certificate of Installation, and a Certificate of Acceptance have been completed for each unit having features requiring HERS verification. The HERS Rater shall also confirm that the Certificate of Installation and Certificate of Acceptance have been completed as required, and that the field technician’s diagnostic test results and all other Certificate of Acceptance information shows compliance consistent with the Certificate of Compliance. The group shall be closed prior to selection of the sample that will be field verified and diagnostically tested.
The builder or the HERS Rater may request removal of units from the group by notifying the HERS Provider prior to selection of the sample that will be tested and shall provide justification for the change. Removed units which are installed shall either be field verified and diagnostically tested individually or shall be included in a subsequent group for sampling.
The HERS Rater, with no direction from the installer, builder, or owner shall randomly select one system or dwelling unit from the “closed” group for field verification and diagnostic testing upon receiving the builder’s or builder representative’s request for HERS verification of that group. The HERS Rater shall enter the test and/or field verification results into the Data Registry regardless of whether the results indicate a pass or fail. If the test fails then the failure must be entered into the Provider’s Data Registry even if the installer immediately corrects the problem. In addition, the procedures in NA1.6.4 shall be followed.
If field verification and diagnostic testing determines that the requirements for compliance are met, the HERS Rater shall enter the test results into the Data Registry. Whereupon, the Provider shall make available to the HERS Rater, the builder, the enforcement agency and other approved users of the Data Registry, a copy of the registered Certificate of Verification for the “tested” system or dwelling unit and a Certificate of Verification shall also be provided for each “not tested” system or dwelling unit in the sample group. The Certificate of Verification shall report the successful diagnostic testing results and conclusions regarding compliance for the ”tested” system or dwelling unit. The Certificate of Verification shall also provide:
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Building permit number for the unit.
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Registration Number – that conforms to the numbering convention specified in Reference Joint Appendix JA7.
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Group Number – that conforms to the numbering convention specified in Reference Joint Appendix JA7.
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Time and date stamp of the Provider’s issuance of the registered Certificate of Verification.
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Provider’s logo, water mark, or official seal.
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Indication that the conditioning unit was a “tested” unit, or was a “not tested” unit from the sample group.
The registered Certificate of Verification shall not be provided for measures that have not yet been installed.
Whenever the builder changes subcontractors who are responsible for installation of the systems or dwelling unit measures, the builder shall notify the HERS Rater of the subcontractor change, and terminate sampling for any affected group. All units requiring HERS Rater field verification and diagnostic testing for compliance that were installed by previous subcontractors or were subject to field verification and diagnostic testing under the supervision of a previous HERS Provider, for which the builder does not have a completed Certificate of Verification, shall either be individually tested or included in a separate group for sampling. Systems or dwelling units completed by new subcontractors shall either be individually tested or shall be included in a new separate group for sampling.
The HERS Rater shall not notify the builder when sample testing will occur prior to the completion of the work that is to be tested, or prior to entry of the data from the Certificate of Installation.
The HERS Provider shall close a group within 6 months after the group was started/opened. When such group closure occurs, the HERS Provider shall notify the builder or contractor and HERS Rater that the group has been closed, and a sample shall be selected for field verification and diagnostic testing.
“Re-sampling” refers to the procedure that requires testing of additional systems or dwelling units within a group when the selected sample from a group fails to comply with the HERS verification requirements.
When a failure is encountered during sample testing, the failure shall be entered into the Provider’s Data Registry. Corrective action shall be taken on the failed system and then retested to verify that corrective action was successful. Corrective action and retesting on the system shall be repeated until the testing indicates compliance and the results have been entered into the Data Registry, whereupon, a registered Certificate of Verification for the system shall be made available to the HERS Rater, the builder, the enforcement agency, and other authorized users of the Data Registry.
In addition, the HERS Rater shall conduct re-sampling to assess whether the first failure in the group is unique or if the rest of the units in the group are likely to have similar failings.
The HERS Rater shall randomly select for re-sampling one of the remaining untested systems or dwelling units in the group for testing.
If testing in the re-sample confirms that the requirements for compliance credit are met, then the system or dwelling unit with the failure shall not be considered an indication of failure in the other units in the group. The HERS Rater shall transmit the re-sample test results to the Data Registry, whereupon the Provider shall make available to the HERS Rater, the builder, the enforcement agency, and other authorized users of the Data Registry, a copy of the registered Certificate of Verification for each of the remaining units in the group including the dwelling unit in the re-sample.
If field verification and diagnostic testing of the second sample results in a failure, the HERS Rater shall report the second failure to the HERS Provider, the builder, and the enforcement agency. All systems or dwelling units in the group must thereafter be individually field verified and diagnostically tested.
The builder shall take corrective action on any system or dwelling unit in the group that failed to comply when tested. In cases where corrective action would require destruction of building components, and the performance compliance method is used, the builder may choose to reanalyze compliance and choose different measures that will achieve compliance. In this case a new Certificate of Compliance shall be completed and submitted to the HERS Provider, the HERS Rater and the enforcement agency. The HERS Rater shall conduct field verification and diagnostic testing for each of these measures to verify that problems have been corrected and that the requirements for compliance have been met. Upon verification of compliance, the HERS Rater shall enter the test results into the Data Registry. Whereupon the Provider shall make available to the HERS Rater, the builder, the enforcement agency, and other authorized users of the Data Registry a copy of the registered Certificate of Verification for each individual unit in the group.
The HERS Provider shall file a report with the enforcement agency explaining all action taken (including field verification, diagnostic testing, and corrective action,) to bring into compliance systems or dwelling units for which full testing has been required. If corrective action requires work not specifically exempted by the CMC or the CBC, the builder shall obtain a permit from the enforcement agency prior to commencement of any of the work.
Corrections to avoid reporting a failure to the Data Registry shall not be made to a sampled or re-sampled feature after the HERS Rater selects the sample feature, or during the course of HERS testing of the unit. If it becomes evident that such corrections have been made to a sampled or re-sampled feature to avoid reporting a failure, field verification and diagnostic testing shall be required to be performed on 100 percent of the individual systems or dwelling units in the group.