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| Program updates and changes. |
| by Shawn Martin |
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| In an effort to continuously improve its program and meet the needs of a changing marketplace, ICC-SRCC is implementing a number of changes in 2016. OG-100 Program The OG-100 program will undergo the most changes in 2016 in an effort to better meet the needs of participants. ICC 901/SRCC 100 Standard. ICC-SRCC currently uses SRCC Standard 100 Minimum Standards for Solar Thermal Collectors and SRCC Standard 600 Minimum Standard for Solar Thermal Concentrating Collectors as the basis for certification under the OG-100 program. ICC-SRCC concluded in 2015 that an effort was needed to update these standards in conjunction with the International Code Council. This new edition of the standard is designated ICC 901/SRCC 100-2015 Solar Thermal Collector Standard. This standard was developed using ICC's ANSI-accredited standard development process, and received approval as an ANSI standard in April 2015. The standard now merges the previous versions of SRCC Standard 100 and 600 for the first time. The involvement of the ICC and code officials brought an active effort to better align and correlate the standard with ICC's Family of Model Building Codes. The resulting document works far better with codes, brings all of the collector requirements into one place, and continues to use the ISO 9806-2013 standard as the basis for collector testing. ICC-SRCC will begin assessing all new OG-100 applications and re-certifications to the new standard beginning March 1, 2016. As in the past, the standard is available for free viewing. Those wanting a PDF or hard copy version of the standard can now purchase one from the ICC bookstore. Factory Inspection Policies. Recognizing the uniqueness of the solar thermal industry and its manufacturing processes, ICC-SRCC has instituted a number of changes to its Inspection Policies, also effective March 1, 2016. Per its accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 as a certification body, ICC-SRCC is required to conduct inspections to ensure that participants continue to produce the same product subjected to testing and certification. As in the past, an initial inspection of manufacturing facilities must be conducted within one year of the award of an OG-100 certification. The policy will be changed, however, to accept ISO 9001 certification as evidence of an acceptable Quality Management System. Inspection of product will still be required for initial and surveillance inspections. However, the frequency of surveillance inspections will be changed from every two years to every five years. Further, ICC-SRCC is now establishing a network of accredited inspectors to conduct inspections. Upon notification of the need for a factory inspection, participants will be provided with a list of approved ICC-SRCC inspectors. The participant can then work directly with the approved inspector of their choice. ICC-SRCC is planning to grow this network of inspectors to provide more choice and more local options for participants to lower costs and improve convenience. Organizations interested in becoming an ICC-SRCC approved inspector should contact apply@solar-rating.org for program requirements and information. Certification Term. In an effort to better align with the requirements of other international certification programs and the new factory inspection policies, ICC-SRCC will be changing the recertification term of OG-100 certified products from 12 years to 10 years. This change will be effective for all new OG-100 certifications and recertification initiated after March 1, 2016. This change will not be retroactive, and certifications received prior to March 1, 2016, will continue for 12 years from their award. They would then be subject to the 10-year change when recertified. Model Updates. The release of the ISO 9806-2013 standard update in November 2013 brought a number of changes to the way that solar thermal collectors are tested and evaluated. ICC-SRCC updated the OG-100 program in July 2014, changing from the 1994/95 versions of ISO 9806 to the new 2013 version. One of the biggest changes in the document focuses on the fluid temperature used with ambient temperature to calculate collector performance ratings. To date, ICC-SRCC has utilized the inlet temperature to the collector measured in the lab. Past versions of ISO 9806 permitted either the inlet temperature (Ti) or the average fluid temperature (averaged between the inlet and outlet fluid temperatures) to be used. In an effort to standardize the approach, the 2013 version of ISO 9806 used the average fluid temperature, also known as the mean temperature (Tm). Since this change appears unlikely to change in future versions of ISO 9806, ICC-SRCC is now in the process of updating the OG-100 models to utilize Tm data instead of Ti. This will change the basis of the collector ratings slightly. Therefore, after the new models have been fully tested and validated, all OG-100 collector ratings will be recalculated using the new method. ICC-SRCC OG-100 participants should see a very small change to their ratings. All participants will be provided with a graph of all participant ratings, without labels. This will allow participants to understand how their performance compares to other, similar collectors. The updates will be made to all participants simultaneously, and no new testing will be required. There will be no added charges to make the change. The move to Tm for testing will better align ICC-SRCC's rating program with that used internationally. It also will provide more accuracy since Tm better represents the temperature of the collector losing heat to the environment than Ti. This will position ICC-SRCC to implement the next version of ISO 9806, expected in late 2016. Stay tuned for more information in the near future as ICC-SRCC works to roll out these important updates to the OG-100 performance rating system. OG-300 Program ICC 900/SRCC 300 Standard. Like the OG-100 program, the OG-300 System Certification Program will be updated to use a new standard in 2016. ICC-SRCC currently uses SRCC Standard 300 Minimum Standards for Solar Thermal Systems as the basis for certification under the OG-300 program. The new edition of the standard is designated ICC 900/SRCC 300-2015 Solar Thermal System Standard. This standard was developed using ICC's ANSI-accredited standard development process and received approval as an ANSI standard in April 2015. The resulting document was also extensively correlated with existing building codes. ICC-SRCC will begin assessing all new OG-300 applications and re-certifications to the new standard beginning March 1, 2016. As in the past, the standard is available for free viewing. Those wanting a PDF or hard copy version of the standard can now purchase one from the ICC bookstore. New Add-On Standard Certifications. In an effort to ensure that ICC-SRCC can truly be a one-stop shop to meet all certification needs, certification to several additional standards has been added to the OG-300 program. These standards are used in some jurisdictions for certain types of systems and applications, and are now an optional part of the OG-300 offerings. For a nominal fee, OG-300 certification holders and applicants can add certification to the following standards: |
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| **Copyrighted publication of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials. |
| For more information see the SRCC Fee Schedule, or contact us at apply@solar-rating.org. |