Title 24 HERS rater duct testing and Air balancing

Duct testing required In Climate Zones 2 and 9 - 16

In these eight climate zones the contractor has two choices:

1. The contractor may replace an existing air conditioner with an air conditioner that has a 14 or higher SEER and also has a 12 or higher EER, and either does a refrigerant charge measurement or installs a TXV, and replaces the existing furnace or heat pump with a 0.92 or higher AFUE furnace or with a 9.0 or higher HSPF heat pump. When this occurs there is no requirement for duct sealing or HERS Rater verification of the duct testing. There is, however, a requirement for HERS verification of the refrigerant charge measurement or TXV and the EER. These measures can be HERS verified through a field inspection or sampling of 1 in 7 installations if the contractor is setup to do sampling; or

2. The contractor may replace an existing air conditioner with an air conditioner that has a 14 or higher SEER and also has a 12 or higher EER, and either does a refrigerant charge measurement or installs a TXV, and replaces the existing furnace or heat pump with a 0.82 or higher furnace or 8.5 or higher HSPF heat pump, and adds R-4 duct wrap to all the ducts in unconditioned space. When this occurs there is no requirement for duct sealing or HERS Rater verification of the duct testing. There is, however, a requirement for HERS verification of the refrigerant charge measurement or TXV and the EER. These measures can be HERS verified through a field inspection or sampling of 1 in 7 installations if the contractor is setup to do sampling.

Sampling: Every unit needs to be tested if in the right climate zones or the City or County requires it. The testing can be done by the contractor or the HERS Rater. If the contractor tests the equipment he needs to complete the CF-6R form showing the equipment installed and the test results. Then send it to the HERS Rater. The HERS Rater sends back the CF-4R form showing the property was sampled or tested. This needs to be done on all units being tested. The HERS Rater will randomly select (sample) 1 of 7 to do a backup test. If the test passes everything is fine. If it fails the one before that one is tested. If that one fails all 7 need to be tested. If the contractor does not have the equipment or does not want to do the testing the HERS Rater will then test every unit for the contractor, which I find 98% of the contractors choose.