Refrigeration Systems Safety Standard

REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS SAFETY STANDARD

UPDATE ON ASHRAE STANDARD 15

ISSUE:

Safety requirements of newest ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 15-2001.

BACKGROUND:

ASHRAE 15 addresses general requirements, refrigerant storage restrictions, design

and construction procedures, conformance to National electrical code, periodic testing

of safety equipment for a refrigerating machinery room. The focus of this design alert

is on safety of personnel operating and maintaining the equipment. The revised main

requirements are:

Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) requirements are deleted.

Ventilation requirements are revised.

Refrigerant leak detector to activate alarms and mechanical ventilation system.

The alarms shall be visual and audible inside the machinery room and outside

each entrance to the machinery room. The alarms shall be of manual reset

type with the reset located inside the machinery room.

5. Machinery room shall be vented to the outdoors, utilizing mechanical

ventilation. The air supply and exhaust ducts for the machinery room shall

serve no other area.

6. No flame producing device or continuously hot surface over 800 degrees F is

permitted as a permanent installation in the machinery room.

7. Clear headroom shall not be less than 7.25 ft. below equipment situated over

passageway.

8. The machinery room shall have a door that opens directly to the outside or

through a vestibule equipped with self-closing tight fitting doors.

9. Walls, floor, and ceiling separating the machinery room from other occupied

areas of the building shall be of at least one-hour rating.

10. Exterior openings, if present, shall not be under any fire escape or any open

stairway.

11. Detectors, alarms and mechanical ventilating systems shall be periodically

tested in accordance with manufacturer's specifications and the requirements

of the local authorities.

23 March 2004

FM-181A-DA-119

Index