Intertek Opens New 35-ton HVAC Psychometric Testing Facility

New testing chamber bolsters convenience and capacity in Southwest region’s largest, independent HVAC/R performance and safety testing laboratory.

Chicago, IL - Intertek, the largest independent HVAC/R testing company in the world, announced it has started testing in its new 35-ton HVAC psychometric testing chamber located in Plano, TX. The new 35-ton facility adds convenience and capacity to Intertek’s 100,000-square-foot HVAC/R testing center; the Southwest region’s largest independent performance and safety testing laboratory of its kind. The Plano laboratory is one of Intertek’s three HVAC/R testing centers in North America – Plano, TX; Columbus, OH; and Cortland, NY.

The Psychometric Chamber is designed for testing product safety, reliability and performance characteristics of air conditioners and heat pumps (up to 35 tons) to requirements from the Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), AHRI, and among others, ASHRAE. The facility is capable of testing a variety of HVAC/R technologies, including split- systems, packaged air conditioners and heat pumps, water-to-air coils (heating and cooling), water cooled condenser systems, and refrigerant-to-water loops (a.k.a., chillers).

Intertek continues expanding its Plano, TX, HVAC/R testing center to provide local support in the nation’s top HVAC/R manufacturing region. For manufacturers, a regional 35-ton Psychometric Chamber reduces costly freight and travel associated with shipping large commercial HVAC/R equipment. What’s more, with an on-call, full-service, state-of-the-art HVAC/R laboratory complex, manufacturers can quickly scale up and down lab operations as needed. This helps manufacturers to compress new product development and launch cycles, reduce costs and improve time to market.

“Any industry like HVAC/R where you have rapid innovation in a stringent regulatory environment, you must have ready access to testing capacity to keep R&D and conformity assessment from holding up sales,” said Cody Adams, Director of Operations for Intertek’s Plano laboratory. “Continued product development and increased scope of energy efficiency requirements has driven significant demand for large tonnage testing capabilities. Our new 35-ton facility fills a required niche in the market.”

In addition to its new 35-ton facility, Intertek’s Plano, TX, HVAC/R testing center boasts a 10-ton chamber and a 15-ton split chamber coming online in January 2010 that can be operated as two separate chambers. In the first quarter 2010, the lab will also bring online its new Gas Heat Lab.

Intertek is the world’s largest independent HVAC/R testing company in the world, providing manufacturers with local testing centers throughout North America, China, India, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Intertek works with the world’s leading HVAC/R brands and is a test partner for the globally renowned certification program managed by the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).