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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 167 / Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules water temperature change. The tester would first need to determine the proportion of wash water to rinse water, in order to be able to apportion the total volume of cold and hot water used between wash and rinse for each of the temperature selections determined formulaically.
DOE requests comment on the test burden associated with determining the apportionment between wash water use and rinse water use on semi-automatic clothes washers.

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c. Implementation To implement the changes described above for semi-automatic clothes washers, DOE is proposing to create a section 3.4 in the proposed new Appendix J see discussion in section III.H.7 of this document for an explanation of how section 3 of the proposed new Appendix J would be structured specifying the cycles required for testing semi-automatic clothes washers. Section 3.4.1 would specify the required test measurements for the Cold cycle and would define variables for each measured value.
Section 3.4.2 would specify the formulas used to calculate the representative values for the Warm and Hot cycles, based on the measured values from the Cold cycle.
DOE is also proposing to create a section 2.12.2 in the proposed new Appendix J to state that the energy test cycle for semi-automatic clothes washers includes only the Cold Wash/
Cold Rinse Cold test cycle. DOE
would also create a section 2.12.1, which would parallel the current section 2.12 in Appendix J2 and would be identified as applying to automatic clothes washers. DOE is further proposing to specify that section 3.2.1 of the proposed new Appendix J which would mirror section 3.2.4 of Appendix J2 would apply only to automatic clothes washers.
9. Optional Cycle Modifiers Section 3.2.7 of Appendix J2 states that for clothes washers with electronic control systems, the manufacturer default settings must be used for any cycle selections, except for 1 the temperature selection, 2 the wash water fill levels, or 3 if necessary, the spin speeds on wash cycles used to determine RMC. Specifically, the manufacturer default settings must be used for wash conditions such as agitation/tumble operation, soil level, spin speed on wash cycles used to determine energy and water consumption, wash times, rinse times, optional rinse settings, water heating time for water-heating clothes washers,
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and all other wash parameters or optional features applicable to that wash cycle. Any optional wash cycle feature or setting other than wash/rinse temperature, water fill level selection, or spin speed on wash cycles used to determine RMC that is activated by default on the wash cycle under test must be included for testing unless the manufacturer instructions recommend not selecting this option, or recommend selecting a different option, for washing normally soiled cotton clothing.
DOE has observed a trend towards increased availability of optional cycle modifiers such as deep fill, and extra rinse, among others. 85 FR 31065, 31076. These optional settings may significantly impact the water and/or energy consumption of the clothes washer when activated. Id. DOE has observed that the default setting of these optional settings on the Normal cycle is most often in the off position; i.e., the least energyand water-intensive setting. Id. The growing presence of such features may, however, be indicative of an increase in consumer demand and/or usage of these features.
Id.
In the May 2020 RFI, DOE sought comment on whether testing cycle settings other than the manufacturer default settings would measure the energy efficiency and water use of the clothes washer during a representative average use cycle or period of use. Id.
DOE also sought comment on whether the non-default selections required by the current DOE test procedure meet this requirement. Id. DOE additionally requested information regarding how frequently consumers use deep fill, extra rinse, or other cycle modifiers, as well as whether and if so, by how much such modifiers may increase the energy or water consumption of a wash cycle compared to the default settings on the Normal cycle. Id. DOE requested comment on whether testing these features in the default settings would produce test results that measure energy efficiency and water use of clothes washers during a representative average use cycle or period of use, and the burden of such testing on manufacturers. Id.
AHAM opposed testing of cycle settings other than the manufacturer default and recommended that DOE
should not test every possible clothes washer cycle or combination of options.
AHAM stated that it does not believe optional cycle modifiers are used in most cyclesthey exist to provide additional choices to the consumer and increase customer satisfaction. AHAM, No. 5 at pp. 1415 AHAM, stated that testing these optional cycle modifiers
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could increase test burden without a corresponding benefit in improving consumer representativeness, and that DOE should only measure cycles that are representative of an average use cycle or period of use, as required by EPCA. Id. AHAM commented that any potential future test procedure change or calculation approach must take into account the frequency with which consumers use optional features and the impact such usage has on energy.
AHAM, No. 5 at p. 4
Electrolux also opposed additional testing for cycle modifiers. Electrolux commented that cycle modifiers are included on clothes washers for special purposes and are not intended for fulltime use. According to Electrolux, these modifiers may be unavailable for specific test cycles and are never a default option due to their specific use.
Electrolux stated that adding these to an energy calculation would require extensive survey of their use by consumers. Electrolux further commented that the variety and number of cycle modifiers on machines on the market make it difficult to track and understand usage of the modifiers.
Electrolux, No. 11 at p. 3
The CA IOUs supported the investigation of the usage frequency of cycle modifiers, stating that the increased presence of such modifiers implies that there is a market desire for such features and that clothes washers are being used with these cycle settings at a non-trivial frequency. CA IOUs, No. 8 at p. 16
NEEA commented that, since options such as extra water and/or deep fill improve clothes washer performance,49
it is likely that many consumers use these options even if they are not enabled by default. NEEA stated that these alternative settings should therefore be included in the test procedure. NEEA, No. 12 at p. 21
The Joint Commenters encouraged DOE to capture the impact of cycle modifiers such as deep fill and extra rinse on energy and water use. The Joint Commenters expressed concern that since the default position for these modifiers is most often off, the test procedure is effectively assigning a value of zero to the energy and water use of these features, which is likely not representative. According to the Joint Commenters, the test procedure may therefore be significantly underestimating energy and/or water use of clothes washers with these 49 DOE assumes that by clothes washer performance, NEEA means cleaning and rinsing performance.

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