Title 24 Acceptance Testing
Some Energy Code requirements cannot be satisfied on paper. Acceptance testing is the step where installed lighting controls and mechanical systems have to be demonstrated to work, on site, by a certified technician.
What it is and which systems need it
Acceptance testing applies to two disciplines: lighting controls and mechanical systems. Specifying a compliant control or a compliant unit is not enough — it has to be shown to function as intended once installed, and the result is recorded on an NRCA form, the nonresidential certificate of acceptance, which goes to the inspector.
Who is allowed to perform it
Not the installer acting alone. The tests are carried out by a certified Acceptance Test Technician, trained and certified through a provider approved by the Energy Commission under the Acceptance Test Technician Certification Provider programme. There are two separate certifications and they are not interchangeable: a lighting controls technician and a mechanical systems technician are certified through different providers for different scopes.
The form itself tells you which is required. In an NRCA form name the suffix indicates the tester: -A means a certified acceptance test technician must perform the test, and -F means a field technician may.
Why it is a programme item, not a paperwork item
Because it happens on site, after installation, near the end of construction. A project that reaches final inspection without its acceptance tests completed is not held up by a missing document — it is held up by work that still has to be scheduled, performed and signed. That is why it is worth identifying at design stage which systems will need testing and who will carry it out.
Topics in this section
- When is mechanical acceptance testing required?
- What is Title 24 lighting acceptance testing?
- Who can perform Title 24 acceptance testing?
- Title 24 acceptance testing by system
- What happens if acceptance testing fails?
- When does Title 24 acceptance testing happen?
How it differs from ECC verification
Both are third-party checks of installed work, but they belong to different sides of the code. ECC verification applies to residential and multifamily measures and is registered through an ECC provider's data registry. Acceptance testing applies to nonresidential lighting controls and mechanical systems and is documented on NRCA forms by an ATT. A commercial project does not have ECC testing; it has acceptance testing.