Air Conditioning Inspection Certificates Smethwick (2023)

Our Air Conditioning Inspection Certificate Smethwick inspectors have been carrying out Air Conditioning Inspection reports since 2009, when they were first introduced under EU Legislation. Our professional team of highly skilled Inspectors are available to help with all your queries and to supply you with your Certificate in a timely and efficient manner.

Having been in the energy business since 2007, our gained knowledge puts us in an exceptional position to supply support and advice for all your Commercial needs.

Since 4th January 2011, it is now a legal requirement for any buildings with over 12kW of total cooling to have a TM44 Air Conditioning Inspection Survey and Report carried out by an Accredited Air Conditioning Inspector and for this report to be lodged with the government's Non-Domestic Energy Performance Certificate Register (Landmark).

This AC EPC inspection for 12Kw systems and above is mandatory and is enforced and regulated by the legislation laid down in Article 9 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) Regulations 2007.

If you're not sure if you qualify, if you have more than 1000 sq ft (93 m2) of air conditioned floorspace, then it is highly likely that you will need to have an inspection.

The implementation dates have now passed, so any building that does not possess this certificate is operating outside the law and is non-compliant with current legislation.

Trading standards are also becoming more proactive and clamping down on non-compliant owners and operators.

The Energy Performance of Building Directive 2002 is a European Directive designed to reduce carbon emissions and promote energy efficiency. This directive was implemented into UK legislation in the form of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2007.

Part 4 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations requires the person who has control of the operation of any air conditioning systems in a building that have a collective cooling capacity greater than 12kW to ensure the overall system is inspected by an accredited air conditioning inspector at regular intervals (at least every 5 years).

CIBSE Technical Memorandum TM44 provides guidance on conducting an air conditioning inspection to satisfy the requirements of the Directive as expressed in the various regulations in the UK. The focus is on systems that use refrigerants to produce cooling.

Unlike the requirements for Energy Performance Certificates, these air conditioning inspections are not triggered by sale or rental, but have been given definite deadlines for compliance:

First inspection of all existing air conditioning systems over 250 kW cooling capacity should have been completed by 4 January 2009;

First inspection of all existing air conditioning systems over 12 kW should have been completed by 4 January 2011;

New air conditioning systems over 12 kW installed after January 2008 must be inspected within 5 years of being put into service.

This means that any systems over 12 kW that have not already been inspected are currently breaching the regulations and therefore liable for a fine or further prosecution.

The air conditioning inspection will ensure that building owners and managers are provided with basic information regarding their air conditioning systems. It will also provide advice on how the effectiveness of their systems can be improved.

Acting upon the advice in the inspection report and rectifying identified faults may result in immediate improvements to the effectiveness of air conditioning systems and possibly reduce the operating costs.

In some instances the costs of providing both heating and cooling will be reduced, especially where these two systems are unnecessarily being used due to inappropriate controls or settings. In many cases it will be clear that the building and systems are already well-documented with records clearly showing that the equipment has been maintained to a respectable standard.

If so, the energy inspection could be reduced and the inspection report kept relatively brief with the main content advising on opportunities for load reduction, or alternative solutions that hitherto not been considered. However, in other cases the energy assessor may find it necessary to suggest relatively basic maintenance, such as cleaning or repairs to neglected equipment.

Cleaning operations or adjustments to controls do not form part of the inspection procedure, even where they might be carried out to improve efficiency. The inspection is not intended, or expected, to involve any physical work of this nature, as this could change the health and safety 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, and only if the energy assessor has the competence to do the job. However, the building owner or manager may be able to carry out some alterations themselves provided they agree with the assessor’s observations.

Most reports are likely to contain advice with a combination of low cost measures and advice on where investment may be required to implement the recommendations in the report. The manager concerned should be provided with or learn how to obtain, information about air conditioning management, especially anything that is contained in free publications such as the Carbon Trust’s Good Practice Guides.

An air-conditioning inspection will examine the refrigeration and air movement equipment. It will examine all the maintenance documentation and offer a guide on how well the present systems have been maintained. All energy assessors are required to estimate whether the system is suitably sized for the cooling loads in the treated spaces, and are expected to provide advice on how the air-conditioning system can be improved.

Access will be required to all equipment situated in the plant rooms and other locations with limited provision for access. The building owner/manager should agree the means for access to the air conditioning unit with the energy assessor, following a health and safety risk assessment. The energy assessor will need to be accompanied by the respective 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 supervised by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent on health and safety grounds. This involves the system being turned off to allow safe access, so this will have to be arranged outside of working hours to avoid disruption to business. The energy assessor may need to access a sample of components, such as fan coil units, which may be hidden above suspended ceilings. In this instance 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 that should have been identified by previous arrangements. Nor should they expect the energy assessor to fix any problems identified as part of the inspection.

If owners or managers require this service they should clearly specify their demands in advance before undertaking an inspection. And they should also assure themselves that the energy assessor is competent to undertake such additional work. All terms and conditions should be ratified in advance and clearly expressed in their contract or agreement with the energy assessor.

Air conditioning system inspections can only be completed by a qualified and accredited commercial energy assessor. There are two accreditation levels for inspectors, Level 3 and Level 4:

Level 3 inspections are for "simple systems", which may comprise of split systems or VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) systems.

Level 4 inspections are for a "complex system" and will be made up of an air handling unit (AHU), terminal units and usually a water chiller.

The aim of the inspection is to clarify how efficient your current system is and how it can be improved to reduce your costs and help the environment. Our Smethwick Inspector will advise what simple measures you can take to see immediate improvements in cost-efficiency and in the effectiveness of your systems, which will also help to reduce your carbon footprint.

Our Smethwick inspections are carried out following the TM44 Air Conditioning Inspection guidelines. You will be provided with information regarding the efficiency of the air-conditioning systems that you control, together with advice on how the energy efficiency or effectiveness of these systems could be improved.

Improving the efficiency of your system will allow you to save money in the long run by reducing your air-conditioning costs as well as reducing your carbon footprint.

Local authorities (usually by their Trading Standards Officers) are responsible for enforcing the requirements relating to air-conditioning inspection reports.

Failure to commission, keep, or provide an air conditioning inspection report when required by the Regulations means you may be issued with a penalty charge notice. Trading Standards Officers may act on complaints or undertake investigations. They may request you to provide them with a copy of your air-conditioning inspection report. If asked, you must provide this information within seven days of the request or be liable to a penalty charge notice for failing to do so.

A copy of an air conditioning inspection report can be requested by an enforcement officer at any time up to six months after the last day for compliance with the obligation to make it available.

The penalty for failing to having an air-conditioning inspection report is fixed at present at £300.

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Energy Assessment Manager