Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Test Procedures for Residential Furnaces and Boilers

On February 4, 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to amend its test procedure for residential furnaces and boilers, which serves as the basis for today's action. This final rule amends that test procedure by adopting new equations to facilitate calculation of the annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) for certain classes of products when omitting specified heat-up and cool-down tests, as allowed under the test procedure if applicable criteria are met. The relevant industry test procedure, which is incorporated by reference in the current DOE test procedure, lacks equations necessary for the calculation of the heating seasonal efficiency (which contributes to the ultimate calculation of AFUE) of two-stage and modulating condensing furnaces or boilers when the option to omit the heat-up and cool-down tests is employed. This final rule revises the DOE test procedure to rectify this omission by adopting additional equations for the calculation of the part-load efficiencies at the maximum input rate and reduced input rates for two-stage and modulating condensing furnaces and boilers when the manufacturer chooses to omit the heat-up and cool-down tests under the test procedure.