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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 58 / Monday, March 29, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
AHAM, No. 13 at p. 6 9 DOE did not receive any comment in opposition to the proposed definition. For the reasons provided in the June 2020 NOPR, DOE
adopts the definition of room air conditioner as proposed.
In the June 2020 NOPR, DOE also proposed to further specify the scope of coverage of appendix F by adding a new Scope section stating that appendix F
contains the test requirements used to measure the energy performance of room ACs. In doing so, DOE would explicitly limit the scope of products tested in accordance with appendix F, and appendix F would be consistent with test procedures for other similar covered products in that it would include an introductory statement of scope.
There were no comments pertaining to this addition. DOE adds this new provision to appendix F as proposed.
B. Industry Test Standards The DOE room AC test procedure in appendix F references the following two industry standards as the basis of the cooling mode test: ANSI/AHAM RAC
12008 and ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 162009. ANSI/AHAM RAC12008
provides the specific test conditions and associated tolerances, while ANSI/
ASHRAE Standard 162009 describes the test setup, instrumentation and procedures used in the DOE test procedure. The cooling capacity, efficiency metric, and other indicators are calculated based on the results obtained through the application of these test methods, as described in appendix F and 10 CFR 430.23f.
Updated versions of AHAM RAC1
and ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 16 have been released since the publication of the previous DOE test procedure. DOE
assessed the updated versions of these standards to determine whether a DOE
test procedure that adopted the updated industry standards would produce test results which measure energy efficiency of room ACs during a representative average use cycle without being unduly burdensome to conduct.
1. AHAM RAC1
The cooling mode test in appendix F
is conducted in accordance with the testing conditions, methods, and calculations in Sections 4, 5, 6.1, and 6.5 of ANSI/AHAM RAC12008, as summarized in Table III1.
9 A notation in the form AHAM, No. 13 at p. 6
identifies a written comment: 1 Made by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers; 2
recorded in document number 13 that is filed in the docket of this test procedure rulemaking Docket No. EERE2017BTTP00120008 and available for review at http www.regulations.gov; and 3
which appears on page 6 of document number 13.

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RAC12015 to determine the electrical TABLE III1SUMMARY OF ANSI/
AHAM RAC12008 SECTIONS power input in cooling mode. Id.
Since the June 2020 NOPR, AHAM
REFERENCED IN APPENDIX F

RAC1 has been updated and the current standard was released in Section Description September 2020 as AHAM RAC1
4 General test requirements, in- 2020, Room Air Conditioners AHAM
cluding power supply and test RAC12020. Unlike ANSI/AHAM
tolerances.
RAC12015, AHAM RAC12020
5 Test conditions and requireincludes a test method for products with ments for a standard measvariable-speed compressor units; allows urement test.
for voluntary testing inside a 6.1 Determination of cooling capacpsychometric chamber; removes the ity in British thermal units per tests for uncommon water-cooled units hour Btu/h.
6.5 Determination of electrical input as well as the sweat, drip, and heating tests; and updates references to the most in watts W.
recent versions of other industry standardsAHAM RAC12020
In the June 2020 NOPR, DOE
references ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 16
proposed to incorporate by reference ANSI/AHAM RAC12015 but limit the 2016, for reasons outlined below, and IEC Standard 62301 Second Edition for section references in appendix F to 10
cooling mode-specific sections of ANSI/ standby power measurement.
AHAM
and GEA
urged DOE
to adopt AHAM RAC12015 by excluding AHAM
RAC12020.
AHAM
standby mode, off mode, and heating commented that this test procedure is mode sections, and to update the identical to the existing test procedure section reference for measuring waivers and the test procedure proposed electrical power input. 85 FR 35700, in the June 2020 NOPR. AHAM further 35706 Jun. 11, 2020. ANSI/AHAM
RAC12015 introduced new provisions commented that uncommon practices such as water-cooled unit testing have for the measurement of standby mode been eliminated and tests irrelevant to and off mode power in Section 6.3, as energy and capacity measurement such well as the calculations for annual as the sweat, drip, and heating tests energy consumption and CEER in have been removed from AHAM RAC
Sections 6.4 through 6.8. Because those 12015 such that the AHAM RAC1
updates do not impact the sections 2020 procedure is now consistent with relevant to appendix F, DOE noted in the scope of the DOE test procedure.
the June 2020 NOPR that it expects that updating the references to ANSI/AHAM AHAM stated that AHAM RAC12020
does allow for voluntary testing in a RAC12015 in appendix F would not psychrometric air-enthalpy chamber, substantively affect test results or test which DOE declined to propose for burden. Id. ANSI/AHAM RAC12015
added test requirements and conditions adoption in the June 2020 NOPR.
AHAM and GEA further stated that for standby mode and off mode, and adopting AHAM RAC12020 as the heating mode in Sections 4 and 5, DOE test procedure would not change respectively. Because the DOE test the substance of DOEs proposed rule procedure already addresses standby unless DOE were to consider allowing mode and off mode testing but not heating mode, which is now included in voluntary testing in a psychrometric chamber. AHAM asserted that AHAM
ANSI/AHAM RAC12015, and to RAC12020 is not unduly burdensome avoid confusion regarding the to conduct and produces results that appropriate applicability of ANSI/
reflect the energy efficiency of room AHAM RAC12015, DOE proposed in ACs during a representative average use the June 2020 NOPR to update the cycle. AHAM, Public Meeting existing references to Sections 4 and 5
Transcript, No. 12 at pp. 910, 21;
of ANSI/AHAM RAC12008 in AHAM, No. 13 at p. 2; GEA, No. 18 at appendix F with references to only the p. 1 11 AHAM further noted that, at the cooling mode-specific subsections of ANSI/AHAM RAC12015: Sections 10 Copies of AHAM RAC12020 can be 4.1, 4.2, 5.2.1.1, and 5.2.4. Id.
purchased from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers at 1111 19th Street NW, Suite 402, DOE also noted in the June 2020
Washington, DC 20036, 2028725955, or by going NOPR that the provisions in ANSI/
to http www.aham.org.
AHAM RAC12015 for measuring 11 A notation in the form AHAM, Public Meeting electrical power input appear in Section Transcript, No. 12 at pp. 910, 21 identifies an oral 6.2, rather than Section 6.5 of ANSI/
comment that DOE received on August 6, 2020
during the public meeting, and was recorded in the AHAM RAC12008. To reflect this public meeting transcript in the docket for this test change in section numbers, DOE
procedure rulemaking Docket No. EERE2017BT
proposed to update appendix F to TP00120012. This particular notation refers to a reference Section 6.2 of ANSI/AHAM
comment 1 made by AHAM during the public
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