Inside the AMCA Certified Ratings Program

Date: 2024-10-27 03:00:00

By Scott Arnold, AMCA International

(Editor’s note: This article, published in the 2024 edition of AMCA inmotion magazine, is a consolidation and update of the white papers “Introduction to the AMCA Certified Ratings Program,” “How to Ensure AMCA-Certified Products Get Installed,” and “Guideline Specifications for AMCA-Certified Products” and the 2021 AMCA inmotion article “Inside the AMCA Laboratory and Certified Ratings Program.”)

With so much—occupant comfort, health, and safety; the owner’s bottom line; one’s professional standing and reputation (not to mention exposure to liability)—at stake, the greatest source of lost sleep for an engineer who specifies mechanical systems for buildings has to be the fear of a system not performing as intended. So much goes into the specification of mechanical systems for buildings—think of all the pieces and parts that make up a system and the host of considerations (size, material, configuration, etc.) that go into their selection. With air systems, few parameters are as important as performance ratings: airflow, air pressure, and brake horsepower for fans, for example. Manufacturers’ published performance ratings are critically important to understanding how a product will perform in a system but cannot always be trusted. Why ratings may be inaccurate range from honest mistakes and poor judgement to downright unscrupulous behavior.

Assuring published performance ratings are accurate and, thus, reliable is the role of the third-party certification program. Air Movement and Control Association (AMCA) International’s Certified Ratings Program (CRP) is one such program. This article explains the workings of the AMCA CRP and illuminates why products that undergo the rigorous certification process deserve to be specified ahead of products that do not. Additionally, it offers practical advice for properly specifying AMCA International-certified products and ensuring those products get installed.

Purpose

In an October 2023 interview for AMCA inmotion e-News1 (to receive AMCA inmotion e-News, subscribe to publishing partner ASHRAE Journal’s HVAC&R Industry News here), Mike Wolf, PE, 2023-2024 president of the AMCA International board of directors, reminisced: “Early in my career, I recall (Greenheck co-founder) Bob Greenheck saying, prior to the CRP, the guy with the best fan performance was the one with the fastest printing press, as some manufacturers would take liberty with performance data and ratings to give them an edge over competitors.”

The objective of the globally recognized AMCA CRP is to, in Wolf’s words, create “a level playing field and consistent way of presenting data”1 to ensure air-movement and air-control products perform as stated in manufacturer literature. Participation in the program is voluntary and open to AMCA International members and non-AMCA International members alike.

Process

Through the CRP, AMCA International tests—in accordance with AMCA International, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ASTM International, and ASHRAE/Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) standards—23 types of air-movement and air-control products:

The products AMCA International certifies are serially produced, meaning designed and fabricated for general-purpose installations. (Custom products cannot be certified but can be tested in accordance with AMCA International-approved standards.)

All testing is performed in the AMCA International laboratory in Arlington Heights, Ill.; the Asia AMCA laboratory in Johor, Malaysia; or an independent AMCA International-accredited laboratory (Figure 1).

After a product has been tested and its cataloged ratings have been approved, the product is certified to bear an AMCA CRP seal. AMCA International offers 17 certifications:


In the Beginning …

From “AMCA at 100: A Century of Inclusion,” 2017 edition of AMCA inmotion:

AMCA is the association it is today because, in 1917, competing U.S. fan manufacturers decided to … [put] the industry’s long-term well-being ahead of their own short-term victories … setting a precedence for integrity. …

… They called themselves the National Association of Fan Manufacturers, or NAFM. One of NAFM’s earliest efforts to advance the industry was the development of Bulletin 110, Standard Test Code for Disc and Propeller Fans, Centrifugal Fans and Blowers. That document is better known today as ANSI/AMCA Standard 210, Laboratory Methods of Testing Fans for Certified Aerodynamic Performance Rating, and it is one of the association’s key technical standards.

During the 1930s, NAFM began distributing “Certified Ratings” stickers to members who tested in accordance with standard test codes. The NAFM Publicity Committee hoped the stickers would stir conversation, bringing more companies into the fold and encouraging testing and verification in harmony with peer-vetted standards.

1932 advertisement.

NAFM Bulletin 110, which was first published in 1923.


With some product types, more than one certification can be earned, in which case the certifications usually are combined on the seal. AMCA CRP seals are affixed to equipment and used in product catalogs and sizing/selection software in accordance with procedures set forth in AMCA CRP publications (see sidebar “CRP Publications”).

For an overview of the certifications, program documents, and test/rating standards associated with the products within the scope of the AMCA CRP, see Table 1.

Once a product line is certified, it is subject to check tests every three years. After a product has passed three successive check tests, a longer interval between subsequent check tests is allowed.

The AMCA International certification process is accredited by A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017, General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories, which “ensures a quality assessment with technical experts who have experience in the field of measurement being assessed, resulting in greater customer confidence in measurement results,”2 and ISO/IEC 17065:2012, Conformity Assessment — Requirements for Bodies Certifying Products, Processes and Services, “which provides confidence that products, processes, or services meet the intended use or need in the marketplace.”3

Further ensuring the CRP has integrity and value, AMCA International has in place a number of strict protocols, including:

  • the allowance of public challenges to certifications
  • the listing of certified products in a searchable database on the AMCA International website
  • the policing of participants’ websites, catalogs, and advertisements for program violations
  • the reporting of program violations on the AMCA International website

As of September 2024, 302 manufacturers around the world representing 4,410 products are enrolled in the AMCA CRP.

Seal Use

A manufacturer whose product is certified to bear an AMCA International seal is not required to display the seal. Thus, in project submittals and specifications, it is best to state a product “shall be certified to bear the AMCA Certified Ratings Program seal.” Including with a submittal literature showing the appropriate AMCA International seal has the same effect.

An AMCA CRP seal can be applied only in accordance with the rules laid out in the respective AMCA CRP publication. For example, a seal can be associated only with a product currently certified to bear it and cannot be displayed on the cover of a catalog containing both certified and noncertified products without clear definition of the products that are certified.

AMCA International recently added to its seals a QR code linked to the AMCA Certified Rating Program Search page on the AMCA International website. There, users can select the corresponding certification and see CRP participants offering products. This is a way to quickly determine if a manufacturer’s claim of certification is legitimate. AMCA International also has introduced QR codes for use in product catalogs containing certified performance data. These QR codes take users deeper into the AMCA Certified Rating Program Search function, linking them to pages where certified products can be found.

Example AMCA CRP seal.

‘Certified’ vs. ‘Tested to’

A common source of confusion concerns the difference between a product that is AMCA International-certified and one that was tested to an AMCA International standard. A product tested to an AMCA International standard is not necessarily an AMCA International-certified product.

An uncertified product “tested in accordance with” an AMCA International standard was subject to no direct observation by AMCA International.

FIGURE 1. The AMCA laboratory network.


CRP Publications

Each of the following is available to download free of charge at https://bit.ly/AMCA_Store:


TABLE 1. Certifications, CRP publications, and test/rating standards associated with the products within the scope of the AMCA CRP.


Third-Party Certification in an Age of Government Regulation

It is a new day in the U.S. air-movement industry, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) publishing a test procedure and, soon, an energy-conservation standard and the California Energy Commission (CEC) approving an efficiency regulation for commercial and industrial fans and blowers. With manufacturers required by law to meet the new regulations, some may be wondering if third-party product-certification programs still have a place. In an October 2023 interview for AMCA inmotion e-News,1 Mike Wolf, PE, 2023-2024 president of the AMCA International board of directors, was asked for his thoughts on the subject:

I’ve been in meetings where government officials have said: “Look, if there’s an industry certification program out there that aligns with what our government regulations are and there’s a high level of rigor around that program, it’s going to give us a high level of confidence that the manufacturers and the products that are participating in that program are complying with the federal regulation. If there’s a manufacturer who’s not participating in that program, we’re probably going to question that manufacturer before we start questioning and looking at manufacturers who are participating in the very rigorous and robust certification program.”

Over time, the AMCA CRP will continue to bring value to members by incorporating a path for meeting DOE and CEC certification and compliance requirements. It will continue to be specified and bring value to HVAC engineers and their customers because of the greater rigor around compliance and enforcement than the DOE and CEC programs. The AMCA CRP includes mandatory random testing of products every three years, while the DOE and CEC programs have no mandatory check-test requirement. The DOE and CEC compliance and enforcement are like an IRS tax audit—that is, the audits are random as time and budgets allow. Mandatory check testing coupled with zero tolerance on fan power data will ensure the AMCA CRP continues to be the gold standard for HVAC engineers and contractors to specify and purchase.

Mike Wolf, PE

By participating in the AMCA Certified Ratings Program, you’re going to be sending a message to not only the government but the rest of the industry that you’re going above and beyond government minimums.


Specification Language

Through its free specification-review service (for more information, contact Senior Manager, Certification Services, Charles Meyers at [email protected] or 847-704-6268), AMCA International has concluded that most air-system specifications are written ineffectively with regard to certification, leaving the door open for non-certified products to be installed when certified products were intended. Based on feedback from specifying engineers, AMCA simplified its guideline specifications, reducing paragraph-long statements to single sentences. Engineers are encouraged to incorporate this new and more efficient language into their specifications to ensure AMCA-certified products get installed:

All (product type) shall be certified to bear the AMCA Certified Ratings Program seal for (certification type[s]).

Conclusion

Because of the rigorous testing requirements and procedures of the AMCA CRP, specifiers, purchasers, and other decision-makers who choose products certified to bear the AMCA International seal can be confident the products will perform to expectations, helping to ensure healthier, safer, more comfortable, and more efficient buildings.

References

  1. Arnold, S. (2023, Fall). Q&A with incoming AMCA president Mike Wolf, PE. AMCA inmotion e-News. Retrieved September 19, 2024, from https://bit.ly/inmotion_e-News_Fall2023
  2. A2LA. (n.d.). ISO/IEC 17025 calibration laboratory accreditation. Retrieved September 21, 2024, from https://bit.ly/A2LA_17025
  3. A2LA. (n.d.). ISO/IEC 17065 product compliance certification accreditations. Retrieved September 21, 2024, from https://bit.ly/A2LA_17065

About the Author

Scott Arnold is senior manager, publications and standards, for AMCA International and editor in chief of AMCA inmotion magazine and AMCA inmotion e-News. Prior to joining the AMCA International staff in 2017, he was an editor for HPAC Engineering magazine for 18 years.


Air Movement and Control Association International, Inc.