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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 149 / Friday, August 6, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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and off mode energy consumption of non-weatherized oil-fired furnaces including mobile home furnaces, electric furnaces, or consumer boilers.
Therefore, DOE proposes to require that manufacturers report values for PW,SB
and PW,OFF in their certification reports for non-weatherized oil-fired furnaces including mobile home furnaces, electric furnaces, and consumer boilers.
Additionally, some manufacturers of consumer furnaces and consumer boilers use identical controls and electrical components across various models and/or product lines with different characteristics e.g., input capacity and across AFUE levels. The differences in characteristics may prevent these basic models from being grouped as a single basic model, but because the basic models have identical controls and electrical components affecting standby mode and off mode energy consumption, the standby mode or off mode test result would be expected to be the same for both models. Therefore, DOE proposes that if all electrical components that would impact the standby mode and off mode energy consumption are identical between multiple basic models, manufacturers can optionally test only one of the basic models and use test data from that basic model to rate the standby mode and off mode consumption for other basic models having identical controls and electrical components affecting standby mode and off mode energy consumption.
b. Type of Ignition System for Gas-Fired Consumer Boilers The energy conservation standards for consumer boilers specify that for gasfired hot water boilers and gas-fired steam boilers, a constant-burning pilot ignition system is not permitted. 10 CFR
430.32e2iii. Currently, manufacturers are required to certify the type of ignition system only for cast iron sectional gas-fired hot water and steam boilers. 10 CFR 429.18b2ii. Cast iron sectional refers to the construction of the boiler heat exchanger, which is composed of cast iron sections. The energy conservation standards are not limited to only consumer boilers with cast iron sectional heat exchangers, but rather are applicable to all gas-fired hot water boilers and gas-fired steam boilers, including those with heat exchangers made from other materials e.g., copper, aluminum, stainless steel.
Therefore, DOE proposes to modify the reporting requirement for the type of ignition system such that the type of ignition system must be certified for all gas-fired hot water boilers and gas-fired steam boilers. This change would allow
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DOE to confirm that the manufacturerreported type of ignition system for a given basic model meets the design requirement for all types of gas-fired hot water boilers and gas-fired steam boilers. In addition, 10 CFR 429.18b3
requires that for hot water boilers, the manufacturer include in their certification report a declaration that the manufacturer has incorporated the applicable design requirements. As discussed, the standards for gas-fired steam boilers also include a design requirement that use of a constantburning pilot ignition is not permitted.
Therefore, DOE proposes to update the reporting requirements in 10 CFR
429.18b3 to require that manufacturers of gas-fired steam boilers also include a declaration in the certification report that the basic model meets the design requirement criterion.
c. Rounding Requirements DOE is proposing rounding requirements for the certification reporting requirements proposed in this notice for standby mode and off mode energy consumption. Specifically, DOE
proposes to require that values for standby mode and off mode energy consumption be rounded to the nearest 0.1 watts.
In addition, the represented value of AFUE currently must be truncated to one-tenth of a percentage point. 10 CFR
429.18a2vii. DOE proposes to modify this requirement to state that AFUE must be rounded to the nearest one-tenth of a percentage point. This change, if adopted, would treat consumer furnaces and boilers in a manner consistent with other types of covered products and equipment, for which represented values are generally required to be rounded rather than truncated. DOE notes that this change could only increase the represented AFUE value, and as such manufacturers would have an option of whether to rerate the AFUE of existing models that would be impacted by this change.
3. Reporting Costs and Impacts In this NOPR, DOE proposes to align consumer furnace and boiler certification reporting requirements with the existing energy conservation standard requirements.
For non-weatherized oil-fired consumer furnaces including mobile home furnaces, electric consumer furnaces, and consumer boilers, the proposed changes, if finalized, would require manufacturers to report two additional values i.e., PW,SB and PW,OFF
in their annual certification reports. For gas-fired hot water and gas-fired steam boiler models that are not cast-iron
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sectional boilers, the proposed changes, if finalized, would require additional reporting of the type of ignition system.
Manufacturers of consumer furnaces and boilers are currently required to certify various items to DOE, depending on the product class and applicable standards, which can include AFUE, input rate, type of ignition system, and whether applicable design requirements are incorporated. Because manufacturers of these products are already submitting certification reports to DOE and should have readily available the information that DOE is proposing to collect as part of this rulemaking, DOE does not believe the revised reporting requirements would cause any appreciable change in reporting burden or hours as compared to what consumer furnace and boiler manufacturers do currently.
Additionally, because the proposed AFUE rounding requirement would only increase represented AFUE values, manufacturers may choose to maintain current AFUE ratings; therefore, DOE
does not expect any cost associated with this proposal.
The only product class for which no certification reporting is currently required is electric steam boilers, as there is no AFUE standard or design requirement for this class. However, there are standby mode and off mode standards for electric steam boilers, so the addition of reporting requirements for PW,SB and PW,OFF would require new certification reporting for electric steam boilers, if manufacturers are not already doing so. Costs associated with the proposed updates to reporting requirements are discussed in section IV.C of this document. DOE requests comment on its proposed changes to the reporting requirements for consumer furnaces and boilers, including any cost impacts.
E. Grid-Enabled Water Heaters 1. Scope of Applicability As discussed in section I.B.5 of this document, DOE defines a grid-enabled water heater at 10 CFR 430.2, consistent with EPCAs definition at 42
U.S.C. 6295e6Aii, to mean an electric resistance water heater that has a rated storage tank volume of more than 75 gallons, is manufactured on or after April 16, 2015, is equipped at the point of manufacture with an activation lock, and bears a permanent label applied by the manufacturer that is made of material not adversely affected by water, is attached by means of a nonwater-soluble adhesive, and advises purchasers and end-users of the intended and appropriate use of the
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