Miami Dade County Rooftop Units NOA / Manufacturer Certified Report 3

[fjvillegasjr]

Good morning fellow engineers,
In Miami Dade County, as of April 2019, all external equipment exposed to the mighty hurricane winds require an NOA or product approval/manufacturer certification.
Now whenever we engineers specify a exh/supply fan, CU, RTU, etc., it must have this approval for the equipment AND the tie downs.

There seems to be very minimal options out and it does not appear that manufacturers are moving quickly to abide by these options.
I am aware the Miami Dade county site has a product approval search but still, it is limited.

http://www.miamidade.gov/building/p..._id=1&class_desc=High velocity hurricane zone

Does anyone know of a manufacturer or better approach in finding units to specify to comply with this new interpretation of the code.

Regards,
OMDB

 

[itsmoked]

I certainly don't working in CA but I'd suggest you write a short clear letter about requirements in Miami-Dade so that a manufacturer can understand why they suddenly aren't moving product into that A/C mecca. Hunt down and attach the actual test requirements and include them.

I suspect the tests for that are actually pretty simple and straightforward since it's probably just wind and maybe water. You might be surprised by fairly quick support.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[fjvillegasjr]

I couldn't agree with you more.
Although, maybe I am the only fool here trying to to comply with the code requirement this way.
Most people may be charging the client for wind load calcs and designs and calling it a day.
Then again, the equipment itself has to be approved for HVHZ (High Velocity Hurricane Zone) so IDK!

 

[FL Engineer]

I've been using NOA-approved equipment for years, most manufacturers should have options available. What are you looking for in particular? Using that search page, leave everything blank except for the manufacturer and try manufacturers like Greenheck and Ruskin. For RTUs and other rooftop equipment, you may have to contact manufacturers like Trane or Carrier directly -- some of them will use curb manufacturers that have NOA approvals for their curb connections (try something like Thybar in that search bar).

 

[fjvillegasjr]

Thanks for the information.
I was able to get product approval drawings directly from Rheem after getting in contact with the right person.
They provided me with 11x17 SS documents that provided different installations, very similar to NOAs.

 

[fjvillegasjr]

https://fl.carrierenterprise.com/dealer-resources/

I found this recently and figured it may help those seeking FL Product approvals, NOAs, etc. for Miami Dade County.

Regards,
One More Designs, LLC

 

[itsmoked]

Nice. Thanks.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com