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

On August 24, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNOPR) to amend the test procedure for central air conditioners and heat pumps. That SNOPR serves as the basis for this final rule. This final rule amends the test procedure and specific certification, compliance, and enforcement provisions related to this product. In this final rule, DOE makes two sets of amendments to the test procedure: Amendments to appendix M that would be required as the basis for making efficiency representations starting 180 days after final rule publication and a new appendix M1 that would be the basis for making efficiency representations as of the compliance date for any amended energy conservation standards. The new appendix M1 establishes new efficiency metrics SEER2, EER2, and HSPF2 that are based on the current efficiency metrics for cooling and heating performance, but generally have different numerical values than the current metrics. Broadly speaking, the amendments address off-mode test procedures, test set-up and fan delays, external static pressure conditions for testing, represented values for CAC/HP that are distributed in commerce with multiple refrigerants, the methodology for testing and calculating heating performance, and testing of variable-speed systems.