SPOTLIGHT: Air Leakage Subcommittee

History
The Air Leakage Subcommittee’s primary task is to govern the NFRC 400 document. For the past several years, members of this subcommittee wrestled with the most appropriate path to take with updating and maintaining NFRC 400. They considered questions, such as “Should this document be retired, or should manufacturers continue to test products to the NFRC standard?” Some argued that retiring the document was appropriate as manufacturers that tested their products as per AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S. 2/A440 were already testing their products in substantially the same manner as required by NFRC 400. Others noted that NFRC 400 is referenced in the model energy codes, and withdrawing the document would leave an unacceptable void in the code.

As a compromise, it was determined that NFRC 400 should be maintained as an active document, but the requirements should be modified so that showing compliance with AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S. 2/A440 would be sufficient to show compliance with NFRC 400. For products outside the scope of the 101/I.S. 2/A440 air infiltration testing protocol (some doors, all curtain walls, etc.), the task group is considering allowing manufacturers to show compliance via the ASTM E283 - 04 test (Standard Test Method for Determining Rate of Air Leakage Through Exterior Windows, Curtain Walls, and Doors Under Specified Pressure Differences Across the Specimen).

Leadership
The subcommittee is chaired by Michael Thoman, with Architectural Testing, with support from Vice Chair Tracy Rogers, of Edgetech, IG. The subcommittee works closely with information gathered from an active task group chaired by Chris Nolt, with Provia Door.

Scope
The subcommittee’s scope was recently updated to the following: “The Air Leakage Subcommittee is responsible for developing and coordinating NFRC 400, ‘Procedure for Determining Fenestration Product Air Leakage.’”

Status
The NFRC Spring Membership Meeting in Tucson, Ariz., did not see much action for the subcommittee as the task group was without a chairperson and a volunteer was requested to help work on getting NFRC 400 ready for the 2010 document cycle. Under the new leadership of Chris Nolt, a ballot of a revised NFRC 400 document – to allow recognition of air leakage results from other test standards such as AAMA/WDMA/CSA 101/I.S. 2/A440 for rating purposes – was discussed during the Summer Membership Meeting. The ballot had several negative comments to address, and the subcommittee sent it back to the task group to address.

Next Steps
Many see the direction taken by the subcommittee as acknowledgement that NFRC is sticking to one of its core competencies – rating energy performance. While all agree that air infiltration is certainly an important consideration, the subcommittee felt that other groups have well established test protocols that the majority of the industry uses already. By following this approach, NFRC is moving to reduce the burden on fenestration manufacturers by allowing alternate means of compliance with NFRC 400, while maintaining the reference to NFRC 400 that is now built into many of the model energy codes.

This summer and fall, the task group reporting to this subcommittee will be working to collect the negatives and other comments received on the NFRC 400-2010 document and have something ready to ballot again for approval at the Fall Membership Meeting in San Antonio.

More information, including detailed minutes from the subcommittee’s past meetings, can be downloaded from the NFRC’s Air Leakage Subcommittee Web page, or feel free to contact the group’s staff liaison, Dennis Andersen, at 301-589-1776, or via e-mail.

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NFRC Insider | Vol. 3, Issue 5 - August 2009