Eurovent HAHU certification

The main purpose of an air handling unit (AHU) is to provide good indoor air quality. This contributes to the health and well-being of the people and helps individuals perform better in the workplace or in the schools and universities.

Compared to a standard comfort unit, a certified hygienic AHU meets the highest health and safety standards through a number of features such as cleanability, accessibility, material quality and component features. Hygienic AHUs also typically refer to units applied in projects related to the healthcare segment, such as ceanrooms and operating theatres in hospitals. This means the units are designed to comply with the requirements of certifications, which are well established in this area. Considering these are used in situations where sensitive and sterile conditions are required, it is relied upon control indoor climate with aim of promoting health and mitigating growth of bacteria.

In Systemair, we believe that the term "hygienic" deserves to be reconsidered. We believe that units should be hygienic by design, including those for general ventilation applications such as schools and offices. At a minimum, material components should be hygienic-friendly and certified hygienic options should be available. Considering AHUs play a central role in delivering fresh air to buildings, we believe that everyone should be confident that their units are hygienic, regardless of the area of application.

Compared to standard AHUs, Systemair’s hygienic units come with a number of unique features that allows it to be Eurovent HAHU or VDI 6022-1 certified.

To start with, easy cleanability is one of the focus points of hygienic AHU certifications. All components in the Geniox units are designed to be easily accessible to help maintenance personnel service the unit. The state-of-the-art design ensures that inner surfaces are smooth without grooves to avoid accumulation of unhealthy particles and allow for easy cleaning.

All plastic parts in the airflow are ISO 846 compliant, which means the components prevent fungal growth and do not deteriorate if exposed to bacteria and microorganisms. Additionally, the Geniox casing has a C4 corrosion resistance class (ISO 12944) as a standard feature. C4 is a high class that is recommended for industrial areas and coastal areas with moderate salinity, including chemical plants, swimming pools and shipyards.

Essentially, all the materials are carefully selected by Systemair engineers to provide proper corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance while ensuring they are odourless and emissions free. The cables, dampers, fans, filters, heat exchangers and sequence of the sections also meet hygienic standards.

Accordingly, our SystemairCAD selection software provides you with an array of different hygienic options, ranging from a hygiene-friendly AHU addressing your particular needs, to the automated configuration of a Eurovent HAHU or a VDI6022-1 certified unit.

Systemair is the first major manufacturer worldwide to offer a Eurovent Certified Performance option for “Hygienic Air Handling Units” (HAHU) as a brand-new feature in all Geniox units. The Eurovent HAHU certification is considered to be the most established globally as it creates a common reference for consultants, planners and installers.

The innovative 1-3-star classification is straightforward and easy to understand. The higher the star rating, the more hygienic requirements the AHU fulfils. As such, Level 1 would be appropriate for schools, offices and hotels, Level 2 for hospitals and Level 3 for food processes, pharmaceutical, white rooms and equivalent.

Independent factory and software audits are also performed annually by Eurovent Certita Certification (ECC) as an accredited third-party. This means that the ECC audits each Geniox factory, which ensures that the factory and products are meeting the desired quality level in line with the certification programme requirements. ECC also audits the selection software of the certified manufacturers, in our case SystemairCAD, which ensures that units you configure really meet the requirements defined in Eurovent’s HAHU certification

Aside from Eurovent HAHU, another important standard in the market is VDI 6022-1 for general ventilation and lower healthcare demand. However, is also important to understand the difference between VDI and VDI6022 and VDI 6022-1. VDI, an abbreviation of Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (Association of German Engineers), has devised several guidelines that have become a standard for engineering today. VDI itself is not a certification body, thus any claims that a certification was issued by VDI is conclusively false.

VDI 6022 aims to create healthy air in buildings and deals with the hygiene of ventilation and air conditioning systems and devices with the minimum goal of ensuring that the air released into the room is no worse than the air drawn in by the device or system. VDI 6022-1, a subdocument of VDI6022, puts specific focus on ventilation and indoor air quality. It defines hygiene requirements for ventilation and air-conditioning systems and units. VDI 6022-1 is a code of practice according to which accredited third-party certification bodies or individual auditors can perform audits.  To maintain the certificate, VDI certified products need to undergo regular audits. It is important to remember that VDI itself is not a certification body for VDI 6022-1.

In addition, there are the DIN 1946-4 codes and standards as well as local hygienic guidelines, such as HTM 03-01 in the United Kingdom, PZH Atest Higieniczny in Poland and SWKI VA 104-01 in Switzerland (which is like VDI).

Eurovent HAHU combines the requirements of all these hygienic standards in a single programme – bringing an end to the current patchwork of differing national norms.

For a more detailed comparison of the scope of each certification, please refer to the table below:

For more information please contact your Systemair office