The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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Research & Development AHRI, ASHRAE Set New Standards for a New Era Environmental regulations and demand for high-efficiency equipment drive research and development By Stephen Bennett An ASHRAE session during the society's conference A s 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 20 NOVEMBER 2013 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com 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… is tested independently in laboratories under contract to us to ensure they meet the efficiency levels that the manufacturer claims. "We use those standards around the world and we work with organizations in many other countries," Deitz said. The international initiatives are aimed at getting other groups to adopt the same standards or at least to "harmonize" with them, Deitz said. AHRI also arranges for research to support its standard-setting, certification and advocacy activities. It has a Research and Technology Committee that fields research requests from some 40 "product sections," some of which include manufacturers of oil-fired equipment, such as burners and boilers. Manufacturers in a "section" may ask for research to be done on a particular issue; they submit their request to the Research and Technology Committee, which will review it and, "often times, they will send out a request for proposals to research institutions and universities," Dietz explained. From among those research organizations and universities that bid on the research project, the winner is contracted to do the research and report its findings to AHRI, which relays the results to its members.