Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Central Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps

The Department of Energy (DOE) has postponed the effectiveness of certain provisions of a final rule, published in the Federal Register on January 5, 2017, that amends the test procedure and specific certification, compliance, and enforcement provisions for central air conditioners and heat pumps. Specifically, DOE postponed the effectiveness of two provisions of a recently issued rule that require outdoor unit models to be tested under the outdoor unit with no match if they meet either of the two following conditions: The outdoor unit is approved for use with a refrigerant that has a 95 [deg]F midpoint saturation absolute pressure that is +/- 18 percent of the 95 [deg]F saturation absolute pressure for HCFC-22; or the unit is shipped requiring the addition of more than two pounds of refrigerant to meet the charge required for testing under the rule and the factory charge is not equal to or greater than 70% of the outdoor unit internal volume times the liquid density of refrigerant at 95 [deg]F.