Chapter 4.       Building HVAC Requirements (2016)

4.1.2 What’s New for the 2016 Standards

The following is a summary of the new HVAC measures for the 2016 Standards, including new compliance options that provide greater flexibility in complying with the Standards when using the performance method.

4.1.2.1 Mandatory Features and Devices - §150.0 (2016)

1.   Liquid line filter driers are required to be installed on all air conditioning condensers as specified by the manufacturer (§150.0(h)3).  

2.   There are some changes to the tables specifying mandatory minimum insulation on air conditioning refrigerant lines (§150.0(j)2C).

3.   There are some changes to the mandatory insulation protection for insulated pipes found outside conditioned space (§150.0(j)3).

4.   The term directly conditioned space was replaced with conditioned space in order to capture ducts located in indirectly conditioned spaces. The mandatory minimum R-value for duct located in conditioned spaces is now R-4.2 (§150.0(m)1).

5.   Duct sealing and leakage testing for single family dwellings and townhouses has a new target for total duct leakage, which has been reduced to 5% total leakage (§150.0(m)11).

6.   There are new mandatory requirements for filtration of all air passing through a ducted space conditioning system. The requirements affect the pressure drop and labeling of the filtration devices (§150.0(m)12).

4.1.2.2 Prescriptive and Performance Compliance Approaches - §150.1 (2016)

1.   The refrigerant charge requirement was restructured to clearly state that minimum system airflow is required in conjunction with refrigerant charge verification (§150.1(c)7).

2.   The exception to 150.1(c)7 for packaged systems was amended to allow the installer to certify that they installed a packaged system that was charged by the manufacturer (§150.1(c)7).

3.   New requirements for duct insulation and duct system location were added depending on the location of ceiling or roof insulation (§150.1(c)9).

4.   There is a new prescriptive requirement in climate zones 8 through 14 for whole house fans designed to provide ventilation cooling. The total airflow requirement was reduced from 2 CFM/ft² to 1.5 and the vent free area was reduced from 1 ft²/375 CFM to 1 ft²/750 CFM (§150.1(c)12).