Je veux savoir à propos de…

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

clothes washers that use such low volumes of heated water represent a minority of units on the market.
Requiring greater water meter precision for all clothes washers would represent an undue burden for those clothes washer models for which water meters with the currently required level of precision provide representative results.
DOE is therefore proposing that the hot water meter must have a resolution no larger than 0.01 gallons only for clothes washers with hot water usage less than 0.1 gallons in any of the individual cycles within the energy test cycle. All other clothes washers may continue to be tested using a water meter with a resolution no larger than 0.1 gallons. As noted by GEAs comment, some manufacturers may already be using water meters with this greater resolution, and DOEs experience working with third-party laboratories indicates that at least some third-party laboratories already use water meters with this greater resolution.
DOE is proposing to include in section 2.5.5 of both the proposed new Appendix J and Appendix J2 the following specification: If the volume of hot water for any individual cycle within the energy test cycle is less than 0.1 gallons 0.4 liters, the hot water meter must have a resolution no larger than 0.01 gallons 0.04 liters.
DOE requests comment on its proposal to require a hot water meter resolution no larger than 0.01 gallons for clothes washers that use less than 0.1
gallons in any of the individual cycles within the energy test cycle. DOE
requests comment on the extent to which manufacturers and test laboratories already use water meters with this greater resolution. DOE also requests comment on whether proposing this requirement for Appendix J2 would require manufacturers to retest any basic models that have already been certified under the existing water meter resolution requirements.
2. Installation of Single-Inlet Machines Section 2.10 of Appendix J2 provides specifications for installing a clothes washer, referencing both the hot water and cold water inlets. Additionally, section 2.5.5 of Appendix J2 specifies that a water meter must be installed in both the hot and cold water lines. DOE
is aware of RCWs on the market that have a single water inlet rather than separate hot and cold water inlets. 85
FR 31065, 31070. DOE has observed two types of single-inlet RCWs: 1 Semiautomatic clothes washers, which are generally intended to be connected to a kitchen or bathroom faucet and which
VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:31 Aug 31, 2021

Jkt 253001

require user intervention to regulate the water temperature by adjusting the external water faucet valves; and 2
automatic clothes washers intended to be connected only to a cold water inlet, and which regulate the water temperature through the use of an internal heating element to generate any hot water used during the cycle. Id.
DOE stated in the May 2020 RFI that it understood that a Y-shaped hose or other similar device may be provided by the manufacturer on some automatic models to allow separate cold and hot water supply lines to be connected to the single inlet on the unit; however, other models may not include such a connector. Id. In the May 2020 RFI, DOE
inadvertently attributed the use of a Yshaped hose to automatic single-inlet clothes washers emphasis added rather, DOE intended to describe that semi-automatic single-inlet clothes washers may provide or accommodate the use of a Y-shaped hose, based on its experience with testing semi-automatic clothes washers.
For single-inlet semi-automatic clothes washers i.e., the first example described previously, DOE has observed that these clothes washers are most often designed to be connected to a kitchen or bathroom faucet, with a single hose connecting the faucet to the single inlet on the clothes washer i.e., both cold and hot water are supplied to the clothes washer through a single hose.12 The user regulates the water temperature externally by adjusting the faucets to provide cold, warm, or hot water temperatures for the wash and rinse portions of the cycle.
Section 3.2.3.2 of Appendix J2
provides setup instructions for semiautomatic clothes washers regarding the configuration of both cold and hot water faucets during testing. Specifically, the test procedure specifies that to obtain a hot inlet water temperature, open the hot water faucet completely and close the cold water faucet; for a warm inlet water temperature, open both hot and cold water faucets completely; and for a cold inlet water temperature, close the hot water faucet and open the cold water faucet completely. In the laboratory setup defined by section 2.2
of Appendix J2, the cold and hot water supplies are provided as separate hookups, in contrast to most faucets in residential settings, in which the cold and hot water supply lines combine internally within the faucet into a single output. Thus, the instructions in section 3.2.3.2 of Appendix J2 can be conducted 12 As noted, some models may provide or accommodate a Y-shaped hose to connect the separate cold and hot water faucets or supply lines.

PO 00000

Frm 00009

Fmt 4701

Sfmt 4702

49147

only for either a semi-automatic clothes washer with both hot and cold water inlets of which no such models are currently on the market, according to DOE research, or a single-inlet semiautomatic clothes washer installed with a Y-shaped hose or other similar device that combines the cold and hot water supply lines to connect to the single inlet on the unit simulating most residential faucets, which combine the cold and hot water supply lines internally, as described. Appendix J2
does not, however, explicitly prescribe the use of a Y-shaped hose.
As described in the May 2020 RFI, without the use of a Y-shaped hose, connecting a single-inlet semi-automatic clothes washer to only a single water supply would limit the available water temperature to either 60 degrees Fahrenheit F provided by the cold water supply or 135 F provided by the hot water supply, based on the supply water specifications currently provided in section 2.2 of Appendix J2. 85 FR
31065, 31070. In effect, only Cold Wash/
Cold Rinse or Hot Wash/Hot Rinse could be tested with a single-hose installation. Id. As noted, Appendix J2
does not provide explicit direction on how to connect a single-inlet semiautomatic clothes washer to enable testing at other wash/rinse temperatures. Id. Therefore, DOE
requested information on whether and how consumers using this type of clothes washer adjust their water temperature for the wash and rinse portions of the cycle and requested comments, data, and information on the typical connection and representative average use of single-inlet semiautomatic clothes washers.
Additionally, DOE requested information on how manufacturers are currently testing single-inlet semiautomatic clothes washers under Appendix J2. Id.
No comments were received regarding installation or testing of single-inlet semi-automatic clothes washers.
Based on the previous discussion, DOE maintains that additional direction in the test procedure is warranted for single-inlet semi-automatic clothes washers to produce test results that reflect representative consumer usage of cold, warm, and hot wash/rinse temperatures. DOE considered three potential changes to address the installation of single-inlet semiautomatic clothes washers: 1 Require the use of a Y-shaped hose, which would be used to connect the single inlet of the clothes washer to both the cold and hot water supply connections;
2 connect the single inlet of the clothes washer to a single water supply
E:FRFM01SEP3.SGM

01SEP3