Inspection of ventilation systems – summary of existing protocols and technical survey

In a context of energy use reduction, low energy buildings are becoming more widespread. This kind of construction requires a good envelop airtightness to prevent uncontrolled leakages of conditioned air leading to energy losses. As a result, more and more ventilation systems are installed to ensure a sufficient air change rate for a good indoor air quality. 
However, in practice many issues are found with the installed ventilation systems not providing the expected flowrates. More and more countries have a mandatory inspection of ventilation systems, such as Sweden, Ireland and Germany, or France (since January 2022). 
This paper aims at comparing the various approaches to help provide guidelines on the inspection of ventilation systems. A general summary is first presented based on an EPBD feasibility study detailing 20 protocols from 9 countries, completed with the new Irish protocol. It presents the types of protocols (mandatory or not) per country; the types of buildings controlled (residential only or not); the aspects covered by the inspection; who is allowed to perform it and its periodicity. 
Technical details collected through a 21 question survey are then given for 5 protocols implemented in Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, France and USA. A wide range of issues are investigated, including the preparation of the building before the measurement; the possibility to measure the flowrate inside the ductwork; the way to address various practical difficulties for measurements at air terminal devices; requirements on measuring devices, their uncertainty and calibration; what is considered as non-conformities and their consequences; etc.