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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS3

representativeness of test results. DOE
also requests data and information to quantify the reduction in test burden that would result from reducing the number of load sizes from three to two for clothes washers with automatic WFCS.
2. Water Fill Setting Selections for the Proposed Load Sizes Section 3.2.6 of Appendix J2
prescribes the water fill setting selections to use with each load size based on the type of WFCS on the clothes washer. As discussed in section III.D.1.b of this document, DOE is proposing that the proposed new Appendix J test newly-defined small and large load sizes, rather than the minimum, maximum, and average load sizes used in Appendix J2. To test clothes washers using these new small and large load sizes, the appropriate water fill setting selections would also need to be provided in the proposed new Appendix J for each load size for each type of WFCS.
Appendix J2 defines two main types of WFCS: manual WFCS, which requires the user to determine or select the water fill level, and automatic WFCS, which does not allow or require the user to determine or select the water fill level, and includes adaptive WFCS
and fixed WFCS. Sections 1.22 and 1.5
of Appendix J2, respectively. Section 3.2.6.2 of Appendix J2 further distinguishes between user-adjustable and not-user-adjustable automatic WFCS. Additionally, section 3.2.6.3 of Appendix J2 accommodates clothes washers that have both an automatic WFCS and an alternate manual WFCS.
Proposed amendments to the definitions of fixed WFCS and user-adjustable automatic WFCS are further discussed in section III.H.3.a of this document.
Section 3.2.6.1 of the current Appendix J2 specifies that clothes washers with a manual WFCS are set to the maximum water level available for the wash cycle under test for the maximum test load size and the minimum water level available for the wash cycle under test for the minimum test load size.
Section 3.2.6.2.1 of Appendix J2
specifies that clothes washers with nonuser-adjustable automatic WFCS are tested using the specified maximum, minimum, and average test load sizes, and that the maximum, minimum, and average water levels are selected by the control system when the respective test loads are used i.e., no selection of water fill level is required by the user.
Section 3.2.6.2.2 of Appendix J2
specifies that clothes washers with useradjustable automatic WFCS undergo
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four tests. The first test is conducted using the maximum test load and with the automatic WFCS set in the setting that will give the most energy intensive result. The second test is conducted with the minimum test load and with the automatic WFCS set in the setting that will give the least energy intensive result. The third test is conducted with the average test load and with the automatic WFCS set in the setting that will give the most energy intensive result for the given test load. The fourth test is conducted with the average test load and with the automatic WFCS set in the setting that will give the least energy intensive result for the given test load. The energy and water consumption for the average test load and water level are calculated as the average of the third and fourth tests.
As discussed in section III.D.1.b of this document, DOE is proposing that the proposed new Appendix J test newly-defined small and large load sizes, rather than the minimum, maximum, and average load sizes used in Appendix J2. To test clothes washers using these new small and large load sizes, the appropriate water fill setting selections would also need to be provided in the proposed new Appendix J for each load size for each type of WFCS.
For manual WFCS clothes washers, DOE first considered maintaining the current water fill level settings as specified in Appendix J2 i.e., testing the proposed small load with the minimum water level setting available and testing the proposed large load with the maximum water level setting available. However, the proposed small load is larger than the current minimum load, and using the minimum water fill setting for the larger-sized small load may not be representative of consumer use. In other words, while the minimum water fill level setting may provide an appropriate amount of water for washing the minimum load size, it may not provide sufficient water for washing the small load size as proposed. Further, the 1995 P&G data showed that when using a clothes washer with manual WFCS, consumers tend to select more water than is minimally necessary for the size of the load being washed.35
Based on these considerations, DOE is instead proposing to specify the use of the second-lowest water fill level setting for the proposed small load size.
Although DOE is not aware of any 35 See p. 20 of the AHAM document at www.regulations.gov/document/EERE2006TP
00650027; specifically, the conclusions that consumers are not good judges of clothes load size and consumers overuse maximum fill level.

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clothes washers with manual WFCS
currently on the market with only two water fill level settings available, DOE
proposes to accommodate such a design by specifying that if the water fill level selector has two settings available for the wash cycle under test, the minimum water fill level setting would be selected for the small load size, consistent with the current specification in Appendix J2. In all cases, the water fill level selector would be set for the large load size to the maximum water fill level setting available for the wash cycle under test, consistent with the current specification in Appendix J2 for testing the maximum load size.
For clothes washers with non-useradjustable automatic WFCS, no changes would be required because the water fill levels are determined automatically by the WFCS.
As discussed, section 3.2.6.2.2 of Appendix J2 specifies that clothes washers with user-adjustable automatic WFCS require four test cycles: one test at the most energy-intensive setting 36
using the maximum load size, one test at the least energy-intensive setting using the minimum load size, one test at the least energy-intensive setting using the average load size, and one test at the most energy-intensive setting using the average load size. As described in section III.D.1.b of this document, DOEs proposal would reduce the number of test load sizes from three to two, which would necessitate a change to these instructions for clothes washers with user-adjustable WFCS. To accommodate the proposed small and large load sizes in the proposed new Appendix J, DOE is proposing to require testing clothes washers with user-adjustable WFCS using the large test load size at the setting that provides the most energy-intensive result, and the small test load size at the setting that provides the least energy-intensive result. This proposal would capture the same range of water fill performance as the current test procedure i.e., capturing the range of least-intensive to most-intensive results. Additional tests could be considered, for example: Testing the small test load size at the setting that provides the most energy-intensive result and the large test load size at the setting that provides the least energyintensive result. However, DOE has tentatively concluded that requiring 36 As described in section III.H.3.b of this document, DOE is proposing to update the phrase the setting that will give the most energy-intensive result to the setting that uses the most water and likewise for the setting that will give the least energy-intensive result to reflect the original intent of this provision.

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