Who is responsible for ensuring inspections are done?

If you control the operation of an air-conditioning system affected by these

Regulations, it is your responsibility to:

• ensure an inspection has been done in accordance with the requirements and timetable of the Regulations
• keep the most recent inspection report made by an energy assessor
• give any inspection report kept by you to any person taking over your responsibilities with respect to the control of the air-conditioning system

If you have taken over control of an air-conditioning system from 4 January 2011 and you haven’t been given an inspection report, you must ensure the system is inspected within three months of taking over such control.

What is meant by 'Control of air-conditioning systems'?

The person who controls the operation of the system is the person who controls the technical functioning of the system, not someone who does no more than adjust the temperature.

The owner of the system will usually control the operation of the system even where day to day operation is contracted out to another. Where a tenant takes total responsibility for a building and its services (e.g. full repairing and insuring lease), then the tenant will control the system.

Where the operation and management of the system is carried out on a day-to-day Facilities Management basis, or a servicing company provides routine servicing and maintenance, the contract may specify the FM or servicing company as the controller of the system with responsibility for ensuring that inspections are carried out. Depending on the terms of such a contract the FM or servicing company may accordingly become responsible under the regulations also. Even in such cases, however, the landlord or tenant retains a parallel duty to ensure the air conditioning inspection has been done.

Where air-conditioning systems are installed locally by a tenant, the responsibility will lie with the tenant as they own the system.

What does an air-conditioning inspection cover?

The inspection will examine the refrigeration and air movement equipment that are part of air-conditioning systems, and their controls. It will also examine any documentation that helps to understand the systems, or indicates the extent to which the systems have been maintained. The energy assessor is also required to estimate whether the system is suitably sized for the cooling loads in the treated spaces, and to provide advice on ways in which the performance of the system might be improved.

Access will be required to equipment that may be located in plant rooms, or outside the building, including rooftops or other locations with limited provision for access. In all cases the building owner or manager should agree the means for safe access with the energy assessor, following a health and safety risk assessment of the individual situation. The energy assessor may need to be accompanied by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent at all times.

Some additional access is likely to be needed, for example to the inside of AHUs or ducts. This must be provided and supervised by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent with due regard to the safety of the energy assessor and to building occupants. This would require the system to be turned off to allow safe access, so arrangements may need to be made for this outside working hours to avoid disruption to business. Similarly, the Energy Assessor may need to access a sample of components, such as fan coil units, which may be hidden above suspended ceilings. Again, access should be provided by the building manager.

Building owners and managers should not expect the air conditioning inspection to identify hazards or unsafe aspects of the installation, operation or maintenance of systems that should be identified and addressed by other arrangements, nor should they expect the energy assessor to fix any problem identified as part of the inspection. If owners or managers require this service then they should ensure that the need is clearly specified in the invitation to undertake the work, assure themselves that the energy assessor is competent to undertake such additional work, and ensure that such aspects are clearly expressed in their contract or agreement with the energy assessor.

What can I expect in the report?

The purpose of the inspection and report is to ensure that building owners or managers are provided with basic information regarding the efficiency of the air-conditioning systems that they control, together with advice on how the energy efficiency or effectiveness of these systems might be improved. Acting on the advice in the inspection report and rectifying faults or making appropriate improvements, where this is attractive and cost effective, may result in immediate improvements to the effectiveness of air-conditioning systems or reduce the operating costs.

In some cases the costs of providing both heating and cooling may be reduced, in cases where these two systems are unnecessarily in use at the same time due to inappropriate controls or settings.In many cases it will be clear that the building and systems are already well understood, documented and commissioned, with records available showing that the equipment has been regularly maintained to a good standard. In such cases an energy inspection could be reduced in extent and the inspection report brief, with the main content advising on opportunities for load reduction or on alternative solutions not previously considered. However, in other cases the energy assessor may find it necessary to suggest relatively basic maintenance, such as cleaning or repairs, to equipment whose efficiency has evidently suffered through neglect.

Cleaning operations or adjustments to controls do not form part of the inspection procedure, even where they might be carried out simply and with significant immediate effect in improving efficiency. The inspection is not intended, or expected, to involve any physical work of this nature as this could change the level of professional risk to the energy assessor. Authority to carry out such work would need to be given as part of a separate arrangement by the building owner or manager provided the Energy Assessor has the necessary competence to do this work. However, the building owner, manager or their representative may well be able to carry out some alterations themselves as the energy inspection is carried out, provided they agree with the assessor’s observations. Most reports are likely to contain advice with a combination of simple low or no cost measures and measures where some investment may be required either to apply the measures, or to investigate the potential to apply measures in more detail. The manager should also be provided with, or informed how to obtain, access to advice on the ongoing management of the systems, particularly that contained in existing free publications such as the Carbon Trust’s Good Practice Guides.