- October 1, 2026
- Posted by: Aceget
- Category: RECD & Emission Control Devices
A school is not a factory with children in it. It runs on a calendar that parents, teachers, transport contractors and examination boards all depend on, and the diesel generator sits quietly underneath that calendar. When the grid trips during a board practical or a summer camp, the DG set is what keeps the fans, lifts, water pumps and CCTV running.
That is why fitting an RECD for schools needs a different kind of planning. The engineering is the same as anywhere else. The timing, the safety controls and the people who must agree are not. This guide is built around the two clocks every school already lives by: the academic year and the bell schedule.
Why schools in Delhi NCR are looking at DG emission control now
For NCR, the CAQM Direction No. 76 (29 September 2023) set out an emission control path by DG capacity. Broadly, sets in the 19 to 125 kW band were to move to dual fuel, sets from 125 to 800 kW could choose dual fuel or a retrofit emission control device, and sets above 800 kW were to fit an RECD. Under GRAP, routine DG use is restricted and only emergency or essential uses are allowed, with the October 2023 list covering things like hospitals, elevators and water pumping, as reported at the time.
Rules get revised, so check the current CAQM direction and your State Pollution Control Board before you decide anything. Our summary of DG set emission regulations and the explainer on GRAP rules for DG sets in Delhi NCR are good starting points for the estate team.
There is also a reason that has nothing to do with paperwork. A school DG room is often a few metres from a playground, a bus bay or a classroom window. Children breathe faster than adults relative to their body size and spend long hours outdoors at school. Our post on how air pollution affects children’s health covers the medical side. For a school, cutting diesel soot at the stack is one of the few pollution sources it can control directly.
What an RECD does on a school DG set
An RECD fitted on the exhaust combines a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) with a diesel particulate filter (DPF). The DOC oxidises carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, and the DPF traps soot particles. Aceget’s RECD uses a coated silicon carbide filter and claims about 96% PM reduction, depending on the DG condition and fuel quality. If you want the basics first, read what an RECD is and how it works.
Reading the school year like a work calendar
Most facility managers plan a retrofit by asking the vendor for dates. In a school, start the other way round. Lay the academic calendar on the table and mark the weeks when the DG set simply cannot be out of service, then the weeks when no outside crew should be on campus. What is left is your work window.
Summer vacation (May to June): the prime window, with a catch
Summer break is the obvious slot. Classrooms are empty, buses are parked and the admin block runs on a skeleton staff. The catch is that May and June are also peak heat and peak load-shedding months in NCR, so the DG may be running more, not less, for the office, server room, water pumps and any summer camp.
Practical steps for the summer window:
- Book the site survey in February or March, so fabrication finishes before vacation starts.
- Schedule the actual DG downtime (often a day or two per set for fitment, though this varies) in the first fortnight of vacation, before heat peaks.
- Arrange a rental DG or a temporary changeover for pumps and the server room during fitment.
- Avoid the last week before reopening, which is usually crowded with painting, pest control and furniture work.
Our summer maintenance tips to prevent generator overheating help you combine the retrofit with a pre-summer service.
Diwali and winter breaks: they overlap GRAP season
The October to January stretch includes the Diwali break and the winter vacation, and it looks tempting. The problem is that this is also when GRAP stages typically tighten in NCR. If your set is not yet compliant when restrictions begin, you may lose the option to run it at all except in an emergency, and a site visit during a GRAP week may be harder to schedule.
Treat October to January as the deadline, not the window. The retrofit should be done and commissioned before the first pollution episode of the season. Our guide on how GRAP restrictions affect businesses using DG sets explains how the stages work in practice.
Board exam season (February to March): the freeze period
During CBSE and state board exams, and the practicals that come before them, the DG set must be available at every moment. A power cut during a board exam is a reportable event, and nobody wants to explain that the generator was in pieces. Declare a freeze: no exhaust modification, no hot work, no vendor crew on campus during exam weeks. Surveys and paperwork can still continue.
The smaller events that block days
Beyond the big blocks, every school has fixed days that matter as much to parents as any exam:
- Admission tests and interaction days (crowds of visiting families, often with small children)
- Sports day and annual day (sound systems, stage lighting, outdoor crowds)
- Parent teacher meetings (heavy footfall at the gate and parking)
- Inter-school competitions and hosted events
- Unit tests and pre-boards
- Summer camps or holiday coaching run on campus
Mark each of these as a no-work day for the area around the DG room, even if the set itself is not needed.
A sample planning calendar (illustrative)
| Month | Typical school activity | DG reliance | Retrofit suitability |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Winter break end, pre-boards | High (GRAP, fog, short days) | Avoid |
| February | Practicals, board exams start | Critical | Freeze |
| March | Board exams, result prep | Critical | Freeze; survey only |
| April | New session, admissions | Medium | Survey, design, fabrication |
| May | Summer vacation begins | High (heat) | Best window for fitment |
| June | Vacation, camps | High (heat) | Good window, finish by mid-June |
| July | Reopening, monsoon | Medium | Testing and snag closure only |
| August | Regular classes | Medium | Weekends possible |
| September | Mid-terms | Medium | Weekends possible, last chance before GRAP |
| October | Diwali break, GRAP begins | High | Avoid new work |
| November | Classes, GRAP stages | High | Avoid |
| December | Winter break | High | Avoid |
Your own calendar will differ, especially for international curriculum schools with different exam months. The principle stays: fit in summer or early autumn, and commission before October.
Fitting work into a school day
When a vacation slot is not available, work around the bell schedule.
The DG downtime part (removing a section of exhaust, mounting the RECD, reconnecting) is the disruptive piece. Survey visits, nameplate photography and measurement are quieter and can happen on most days with the right escort.
Period-by-period view (illustrative day school)
| Time block | What is happening on campus | Retrofit activity allowed |
|---|---|---|
| 6:45 to 7:45 | Bus arrival, gate crowding, morning assembly | None near gates or DG room route |
| 7:45 to 10:15 | Periods 1 to 4 | Quiet survey work with escort only |
| 10:15 to 10:45 | Recess, playground full | None outdoors, crew stays inside DG room or off campus |
| 10:45 to 13:30 | Periods 5 to 8, labs | Survey, measurement; no noise, no hot work |
| 13:30 to 14:15 | Dispersal, buses leave, parent pickup | None, vehicle movement must stop |
| 14:15 to 17:00 | After school activities, staff only | Material delivery, light work if activity areas are separate |
| Saturday | Often half day or activity day | Work after dispersal |
| Sunday or holiday | Campus empty | Best day for fitment and hot work |
Two points stand out. First, dispersal is the most dangerous half hour of the day for any vehicle on campus, so no material trucks, cranes or vendor bikes should move then. Second, Sundays and gazetted holidays are where most of the actual fitment should land if you are outside vacation.
If the DG room shares an access road with the bus bay, time the delivery of a heavy RECD unit against the bus roster, and check canteen delivery slots at the service gate too.
Student safety zoning around the work
This is where a school differs most from a factory or office. The people who might wander into a work zone are children who are curious, fast and unaware of hot surfaces. The NDMA School Safety Policy Guidelines (circulated by CBSE) expect schools to manage hazards on campus, and a contractor job fits under that umbrella. The NDMA school safety project page has more background for your safety committee.
Set an exclusion zone
Define a hard boundary around the DG room and the exhaust route, wide enough to cover any lifting path and the area where cut sections of pipe will be laid down. Use rigid barricades, not ribbon tape. Children duck under tape.
- Barricades at least waist height for an adult, with no gaps a child can slip through
- Signage in English and Hindi, with simple pictograms for younger students
- A staff member or guard posted at the barricade whenever work is live on a school day
- Barricade stays up until the exhaust has cooled and tools are cleared
Hot work controls
Cutting and welding the exhaust pipe needs a hot work permit, a fire watch and extinguishers on hand. In a school, add these:
- Hot work only when no students are on campus, or at minimum when the nearest blocks are empty.
- Check that the fire alarm zone covering the DG room is handled properly during cutting, and restore it the same day.
- Keep the fire watch on for a period after hot work ends, as smouldering material near cable trays or dry leaves is common in school service yards.
If you want to reduce hot work, ask whether the design allows flanged connections. Our post on whether an RECD can be installed without cutting the existing exhaust pipe explains the options.
Lifting and crane movements
Larger RECD units may need a chain block, hydra crane or rooftop lift. Any lifting over or near pathways must happen with the campus empty. Plan the route from the gate to the DG room so the load never passes over a play area, even an empty one, since a dropped part damages surfaces children use the next day.
Vetting vendor staff and controlling access
Schools treat outsiders on campus seriously for good reason. Given POCSO obligations and child protection policies, the school should apply its normal contractor rules to the RECD crew:
- Ask the vendor for a named list of technicians in advance, with photo ID
- Run police verification or the school’s own background check process where your policy requires it
- Issue visible visitor badges and record every entry and exit in the visitor register
- Assign an escort from the estate team for anyone moving outside the DG room area
- Restrict crew access to washrooms and spaces away from student areas
- No photography on campus except of the DG equipment, nameplate and exhaust route
A good vendor will expect this. A contractor who resists basic vetting is telling you something.
Who signs off in a school
A housing society has a committee and a factory has a plant head. A school has several overlapping authorities, and the retrofit needs most of them on board.
| Role | What they approve or contribute |
|---|---|
| Principal | Dates, academic impact, communication to staff and parents |
| Management or trust | Budget, vendor selection, contract terms |
| Estate or admin manager | Technical scope, site access, rental DG, permits |
| Transport in-charge | Vehicle movement windows, bus route changes |
| School safety committee | Exclusion zone plan, hot work and lifting controls |
| IT or lab in-charge | Shutdown of server room, computer labs, science lab equipment |
| PTA or parent council | Informed, not approving; some schools share notice through them |
Keep one person as the single point of contact with the vendor, usually the estate manager. Teachers and parents should never be the ones relaying instructions to a crew.
For vendor selection, the trust will want proof that the device is type approved. Our guide to choosing CPCB approved RECD vendors lists the questions to ask.
A short parent and staff circular template
Parents notice when a crane or welding screen appears near the school. A short circular avoids rumours. Keep it factual and calm. A sample:
Subject: Emission control work on the school generator
Dear Parents and Staff,
As part of our commitment to cleaner air on campus, the school will fit an emission control device on its diesel generator. Work is scheduled for [dates], when students are not on campus. The area near the generator room will be barricaded during this period.
There will be no change to school timings or transport. Power backup for essential systems will be maintained through a temporary arrangement.
For questions, please contact [admin office name and number].
Principal
Send a separate internal note to staff covering which rooms will have no backup during fitment, and who to call if something goes wrong.
Testing the DG before reopening
The retrofit is not finished when the device is bolted on. It is finished when the school reopens and every critical load runs on DG during a test. Plan a full test day at least a week before students return.
Loads to check on DG power
- Lifts, including the emergency rescue function
- Water pumps and overhead tank filling
- Fire alarm panel and emergency lighting
- CCTV and the security room recorder
- Server room, office computers and the school management system
- Science and computer labs that will be used in the first week
- Exam room equipment if any assessments start soon after reopening
- Boarding house loads (kitchen, hostel lighting, geysers) where applicable
What the vendor should show you at commissioning
Ask the vendor to walk the estate team through the display, alarm signals, backpressure readings and IoT dashboard if fitted. Keep the commissioning report, test results and device serial number in the DG file. Our post on how to read an RECD test certificate helps you check what you have been given.
Also confirm with the vendor that backpressure stays within the engine maker’s limit. A DG that struggles on the first hot day of term, with every fan in the building running, is the last thing a principal wants.
The light-load problem in school DG sets
Here is a technical point many schools miss. School DG sets are often oversized. They were bought for a future block that never came, or for an old load that included many window ACs since replaced. On a normal outage the set may run at 20 to 30% load.
That matters for the DPF. Passive regeneration, which burns off trapped soot, needs enough exhaust temperature, and that generally needs meaningful load, often cited as around 40 to 50% or higher depending on design. Long light-load running loads the filter with soot and can cause wet stacking in the engine.
What schools can do:
- Get a realistic load study before ordering, using load calculation basics.
- Understand your actual pattern through generator load factor and duty cycle.
- Plan a periodic loaded run (for example with a load bank or by switching larger loads onto DG during a test) if the vendor recommends it.
- Ask how the RECD manages regeneration for sets that run rarely; our post on whether an RECD is suitable for a DG set that runs only occasionally goes into detail.
A school that runs its DG twice a month for short spells has a very different duty cycle from a hospital. The device and its maintenance plan should reflect that.
Budget and funding
Schools usually fund capital works through the managing trust or society. Some include the retrofit in the annual infrastructure budget presented to the governing body, which means it must be approved before the financial year starts in April, neatly lining up with a summer fitment.
Cost depends on kVA rating, exhaust layout, rooftop or ground installation and site conditions. Our RECD cost in India post gives the factors that drive the quote, and the guide on government subsidy for RECD installation explains what support may exist. Do not assume a subsidy applies to your school until you have confirmed it in writing.
Some schools look at CSR funding from local companies or alumni donations for environmental projects. This can work, but keep the procurement decision with the trust, and make sure any sponsor understands the compliance obligation stays with the school as the DG owner.
Three illustrative school profiles
These are composite, illustrative examples to show how planning scales. They are not real customers.
Small day school: one 62.5 kVA set
A primary and middle school with about 600 students and one 62.5 kVA DG serving lights, fans, pumps and the office. Under the CAQM capacity bands this size may fall in the dual fuel band, so the school should first confirm with the vendor and SPCB which route applies, and compare options using RECD vs dual fuel kit. If an RECD is chosen, a model such as the RECD for a 62.5 kVA DG set can usually be fitted in a single Sunday or the first week of vacation, with a small rental set covering pumps.
K-12 school with boarding: one 250 kVA set
A senior secondary school with a boarding house, a 250 kVA set and loads running all year, including during vacations when hostel students remain or camps run. There is no truly empty week. The plan here is a survey in March, fitment over a long weekend in May with a rental DG for the hostel, and a dedicated night test before students return. The RECD for a 250 kVA DG set page shows typical specifications.
Two-campus group: 2 x 320 kVA
A school group with a junior and a senior campus, each with a 320 kVA set. Stagger the work: junior campus in the first vacation week, senior campus in the third, so the estate team and vendor learn from the first job. Both sets are reviewed separately, since exhaust routes differ. Aceget’s RECD for a 320 kVA DG set range covers this size. Group schools should also standardise the contractor vetting and circular format across campuses.
After fitment: building the RECD into the school routine
Add the device to the estate team’s weekly DG test run: check the display and alarm history and log backpressure. Line up annual servicing with the summer break, and keep device documents with the DG consent and service records in case a pollution control inspection happens during term.
Frequently asked questions
Do schools in Delhi NCR need an RECD on their DG set?
It depends on your DG capacity, location and the current CAQM direction. Direction 76 links the emission control route to the set’s kW band, and some sizes may go dual fuel instead. Check the latest direction and your SPCB, and ask a vendor to confirm which route your set falls under.
When is the best time for a school generator retrofit?
For most NCR schools, the first half of summer vacation is the best window. Do the survey and fabrication between February and April, fit in May or early June, and commission well before October, when GRAP stages usually start.
Can the RECD be fitted while classes are running?
Survey work can happen during school hours with an escort. The fitment itself, especially any hot work or lifting, should be done when students are off campus, such as Sundays, holidays or vacation days.
Will the RECD reduce the backup power available to the school?
A correctly sized RECD should keep backpressure within the engine maker’s limits, so usable output should not change in a meaningful way. Our post on whether an RECD changes a generator’s usable power output explains why sizing matters.
How should a school vet the vendor’s technicians?
Apply your normal contractor policy: a named list with photo ID in advance, background checks where your policy requires them, visitor badges, register entries and a staff escort outside the DG room. Keep crew away from student areas throughout.
Our school DG runs very little. Is an RECD still suitable?
It can be, but you must plan for regeneration. Lightly loaded, rarely used sets can load the filter with soot. Discuss load, run frequency and maintenance with the vendor before ordering, and consider a periodic loaded test run.
Plan your school’s RECD with the calendar in hand
The schools that finish a retrofit without stress are the ones that start from their own calendar and bell schedule, then bring the vendor in. If you are mapping out next summer’s work, share your DG nameplate photos and academic calendar with us through the contact page. You can also review the full retrofit emission control device range to see what fits your campus.