Test methods and procedures specified in this section or in appendices of this part, except as provided under § 60.8(b), must be used to determine compliance with the standards and requirements for certification under §§ 60.5474 and 60.5475 and for reporting carbon monoxide emissions and efficiency. The EPA will post all approved alternative test methods on the EPA Web site. The manufacturer or the manufacturer's authorized representative must submit a summary and the full test report with all supporting information, including detailed discussion of all anomalies, whether all burn rate categories were properly achieved, any data not used in the calculations and, for any test runs not completed, the data that were collected and the reason that the test run was not completed. The burn rate for the low burn rate category must be no greater than the rate that an operator can achieve in home use and no greater than is advertised by the manufacturer or retailer.
(a) Canadian Standards Administration (CSA) Method B415.1-10, sections 13.7-13.10 (IBR, see § 60.17), must be used to measure the thermal efficiency and CO emissions of outdoor and indoor residential hydronic heaters and forced-air furnaces, except that the burn rates specified in Method 28WHH must be used for hydronic heaters.
(b) Testing conducted with continuously fed biomass as the fuel(s) must be conducted according to the relevant section of the ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17) or adaptations approved by EPA. The EPA will post all approved alternative test methods on the EPA Web site.
(c)
(1) For outdoor and indoor residential hydronic heaters to be tested under the 2015 particulate matter emission standards in § 60.5474(b)(1), the manufacturer must have an EPA-approved test laboratory use:
(i) Method 28WHH;
(ii) Method 28WHH PTS;
(iii) ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17) (using crib wood); or
(iv) EN 303-5 (IBR, see § 60.17), only for units sold with thermal storage.
(2) For outdoor and indoor residential hydronic heaters to be tested under the 2020 particulate matter emission standards in § 60.5474(b)(2), the manufacturer must have an EPA-approved test laboratory use:
(i) Method 28WHH;
(ii) Method 28WHH PTS; or
(iii) ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17) (using crib wood).
(3) If the heater is equipped with full or partial heat storage, the manufacturer, retailer and installer must not sell or install the heater with less heat storage capacity than is used in the certification test.
(4) The manufacturer and approved laboratory must make the following adjustments to the methods listed in paragraphs (a), (c)(1) and (2) of this section:
(i) For ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17), the burn rate categories specified in Method 28WHH must be used;
(ii) For EN 303-5 (IBR, see § 60.17), the organic compounds must be included as part of the PM.
(iii) For ASTM 2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17) Appendix A1 for full thermal storage certification tests, the test must use the large scale as required in the test method unless the manufacturer requests a variance, in advance of testing, contingent upon measuring flue gas temperature, oxygen and CO, using a simple electronic spreadsheet calculator to estimate efficiency and conducting a comparison to the delivered efficiency to determine if a more detailed examination should be made.
(5) For particulate matter emission concentrations measured with ASTM E2515-11 (IBR, see § 60.17), four-inch filters and Teflon membrane filters or Teflon-coated glass fiber filters may be used.
(6) For all tests conducted using ASTM 2515-11 (IBR, see § 60.17) pursuant to this section, the manufacturer and approved test laboratory must also measure the first hour of particulate matter emissions for each test run using a separate filter in one of the two parallel trains. The manufacturer and approved test laboratory must report the test results for the first hour separately and also include them in the total particulate matter emissions per run.
(d)
(1) For hydronic heaters subject to the 2020 cord wood alternative compliance option specified in § 60.5474(b)(3), the manufacturers must have the approved laboratory conduct cord wood testing using the test methods listed below:
(i) Method 28WHH;
(ii) Method 28WHH PTS; or
(iii) ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17) (using cord wood).
(2) If the heater is equipped with full or partial heat storage, the manufacturer, retailer and installer must not sell or install the heater with less heat storage capacity than is used in the certification test.
(3) The manufacturer and approved laboratory must make the following adjustments to the methods listed in (d)(1) of this section:
(i) For ASTM E2618-13 (IBR, see § 60.17), use the burn rate categories specified in Method 28WHH;
(ii) For all methods, report the results separately per burn rate category.
(e) For forced-air furnaces, use CSA Method B415.1-10 (IBR, see § 60.17) to measure the heat output (mmBtu/hr) and particulate matter emission rate (lb/mmBtu heat output), except use the burn rate categories in Method 28WHH for the 2020 particulate matter emission standards. For the 2020 particulate matter emission standards, report the particulate matter, efficiency and CO emission results separately per burn rate category.
(f) For affected wood heaters subject to the particulate matter emission standards, emission concentrations must be measured with ASTM E2515-11 (IBR, see § 60.17), except for the 2015 certification tests using EN303-5 (IBR, see § 60.17). As required in paragraph (c)(4)(ii) of this section, the manufacturer and approved laboratory must add the organic gases to the PM for EN 303-5. Four-inch filters and Teflon membrane filters or Teflon-coated glass fiber filters may be used in ASTM E2515-11. Method 5H is not allowed for certification testing.
(g) Douglas fir may be used in ASTM E2618-13 and CSA B415.1-10 (IBR, see § 60.17).
(h) The manufacturer of an affected central heater model line must notify the Administrator of the date that certification testing is to begin, by email, to [email protected]. This notice must be at least 30 days before the start of testing. The notification of testing must include the manufacturer's name and physical and email addresses, the approved test laboratory's name and physical and email addresses, third-party certifier name, the model name and number (or, if unavailable, some other way to distinguish between models), and the dates of testing. The laboratory may substitute certification testing of another affected central heater on the original date in order to ensure regular laboratory testing operations.
(i) The approved test laboratory must allow the manufacturer, the manufacturer's approved third-party certifier, the EPA and delegated state regulatory agencies to observe certification testing. However, manufacturers must not involve themselves in the conduct of the test after the pretest burn has begun. Communications between the manufacturer and laboratory or third-party certifier personnel regarding operation of the central heater must be limited to written communications transmitted prior to the first pretest burn of the certification test series. During certification tests, the manufacturer may communicate with the third-party certifier, and only in writing to notify them that the manufacturer has observed a deviation from proper test procedures by the laboratory. All communications must be included in the test documentation required to be submitted pursuant to § 60.5475(b)(5) and must be consistent with instructions provided in the owner's manual required under § 60.5478(f).
[80 FR 13715, Mar. 16, 2015, as amended at 85 FR 63410, Oct. 7, 2020]