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ASHRAE Appeals Panel Overturns Ban of Unvented Combustion Heating Appliances

By Dan Lapato posted 12-06-2018 02:16 PM

  
Early this month, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Appeals Panel overturned Standard 62.2 Committee’s ban on unvented combustion heating appliances. The appeal filed by the Air Conditioning Heating Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) and several organizations, such as National Propane Gas Association and The Ventfree Alliance, contested an ASHRAE Board action to approve “Addendum A” of Standard 62.2. The Panel ruled in favor of AHRI and the other organizations. Addendum A would have banned unvented combustion appliances in Standard 62.2-compliant homes. The Appeals found that SSPC 62.2, which is responsible for Standard 62.2, did not follow procedural requirements to make “reasonable efforts to attempt to resolve [negative commenters]” on the Addendum. As a result, publication approval of Addendum A has been vacated; and the Addendum sent it back to SSPC 62.2 to “address procedural deficiencies” with guidance to better document efforts to address commenters.

We expect that a renewed effort to put forward a ban of unvented combustion heating appliances will take place, but the granting of the appeal is a setback in efforts to ban these products.

For questions on this article, please contact Dan Lapato of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at dlapato@apga.org.

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