Clothes washers; Household or laundry-type washing machines, incl. machines which both wash and dry; parts thereof (HS 8450); Quality (ICS 03.120), Environmental protection (ICS 13.020), Test conditions and procedures in general (ICS 19.020), Laundry appliances (ICS 97.060)

Energy Conservation Program: Test Procedures for Residential and Commercial Clothes Washers (88 page(s), in English)

Notice of proposed rulemaking, request for comment, and announcement of webinar - The U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") proposes to amend the test procedures for residential and commercial clothes washers to specify test conditions, instrument specifications, and test settings; address large clothes container capacities; add product-specific enforcement provisions; delete obsolete provisions; and consolidate all test cloth-related provisions and codify additional test cloth material verification procedures used by industry. DOE also proposes to create a new test procedure for residential and commercial clothes washers with additional modifications for certain test conditions, measurement of average cycle time, required test cycles, tested load sizes, semi- automatic clothes washer provisions, new performance metrics, and updated usage factors. The proposed new test procedure would be used for the evaluation and issuance of updated efficiency standards, as well as to determine compliance with the updated standards. As part of this proposal, DOE is announcing a webinar to collect comments and data on this proposal. DOE is seeking comment from interested parties on the proposal.