Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Decision and Order Granting a Waiver to Empire Comfort Systems From the Department of Energy Vented Home Heating Equipment Test Procedure

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of its Decision and Order in Case No. VHE-002, which grants Empire Comfort Systems, Inc. (Empire) a waiver from the existing DOE test procedure for determining the energy consumption of residential vented home heating equipment. DOE previously published the Empire Petition for Waiver and solicited comments, data, and information regarding the petition, which requested permission to use the DOE test procedure proposed in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) for Direct Heating Equipment and Pool Heaters published in the Federal Register on October 24, 2013, as an alternate test procedure to account for the energy consumption of its condensing-type direct heating equipment (DHE) models. Under this Decision and Order, Empire shall be required to test and rate its condensing-type direct DHE models using the applicable provisions of the DOE test procedure final rule for DHE published in the Federal Register on January 6, 2015. Empire shall use those provisions as an alternate test procedure until July 6, 2015, the mandatory compliance date for the amended test procedure, at which point this waiver shall terminate.