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IT IS SAFE to say that, in recent years, the ductwork sector has come under great pressure to provide goods and services at sub-economic prices. In fact, failure to do so has resulted in some companies being unable to secure work. The rising cost of materials, combined with market forces, has put the industry in a difficult position. However, ADCAS believes that now is the time to give the manu- facture, supply and installation of ductwork proper consideration because so much rests on this technology in terms of safety, comfort, health and energy efficiency. What’s more, we are seeing a rising level of legislation affecting ductwork, which reflects increased recognition of its impor- tance to the effective and energy efficient operation of buildings. The main areas that clients, specifiers, and building managers, need to think about when consid- ering ductwork are quality of man- ufacture; standards of installation; ongoing maintenance and life cycle system running costs. Decisions about these factors should not be led by price alone, not least because building owners need to know that their ductwork complies with regulations on safety. Also because poor quality ductwork leads to poor perform- ance of air movement systems in a building and can add to energy costs in the long-term. There is a host of legislation and guidance on ductwork that specifiers, contractors and build- ing owners need to be familiar with. In general terms, the legisla- tion applies to manufacturing and installation standards; fire safety; and cleaning. Guidance has been produced by ADCAS itself, as well as the B&ES Ductwork Group and other bodies including BSRIA and British Standards. The ductwork sector has worked hard to ensure that guid- ance for those in the industry is kept up to date with technologies and techniques. A key example of this is DW144, recognised as the standard specification for duct- work manufacture and installation. ADCAS and the B&ES Ductwork Group have cooperated to pro- duce the most recent update of this internationally-recognised publication, due out in early 2014. ADCAS also worked to analyse and solve a conflict between the proposed Part L and guidance in DW143 on ductwork leakage and DW144 on pressure classes. As a result, ADCAS and B&ES were Ductwork & ductwork cleaning 34 | February 2014 | HVR Daily news update at www.heatingandventilating.net Ductwork deserves closer attention Malcolm Moss, explains why ductwork needs close attention at every stage of its lifetime in order to provide a safe, healthy and energy efficient indoor environment HVR-FEB14-PG34:Layout 1 20/01/2014 17:26 Page 34
