1st Europe-wide programme for Residential Air Handling Units

After nearly three years of preparation by the Eurovent Launching Committee for Residential Air Handling Units (RAHU), the Operational Manual and Rating Standards for RAHU have been finalised by the end of 2013. Announcing this through an official communiqué, the Eurovent Launching Committee revealed that the scope of the programme included all residential supply and exhaust ventilation units equipped with heat recovery systems, including air-to-air heat-pumps. The certification programme is be based on random testing of units according to the European standard EN 13141:2011, and all tests will be performed by independent testing laboratories, the Committee added.

According to the Committee, the following performances will be certified:

• Leakage class
• Airflow/pressure curves
• Specific power input
• Heat recovery efficiency
• Sound power levels
• Specific Energy Consumption (SEC)
• Energy efficiency class
• Performances at cold climate conditions

The following schedule is reportedly being foreseen:

• April 2014: Signing of agreement by manufacturers for RAHU programme (contact apply@eurovent-certification.com). There is no deadline, as this is a voluntary registration.
• December 2014: Publication of certified data on Eurovent Certification website by December 31, 2014 for all manufacturers signing the agreement before May 30, 2014.

The Eurovent Launching Committee gave further details:

• Per product certificate will be available using Certiflash application (www.certiflash.com) as for any other ECC certified products.
• Data will also be updated in the EDIBATEC (Clé@ – www.catalogue-clea.fr) database for the benefit of optimum validity of building thermal load or design software output.
• The main quality marks currently proposed are the marks “Eurovent certified performance”, NF, CSTBat, and the European Keymark.