§429.14. Consumer refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers and freezers. — Inbound Citations

(1) Failure of a manufacturer to provide, maintain, permit access to, or copying of records required to be supplied under the Act and this part or failure to make reports or provide other information required to be supplied under the Act and this part, including but not limited to failure to properly certify covered products and covered equipment in accordance with § 429.12 and §§ 429.14 through 429.66;

(a) When testing of covered products or covered equipment is required to comply with section 323(c) of the Act, or to comply with rules prescribed under sections 324, 325, 342, 344, 345 or 346 of the Act, a sample comprised of production units (or units representative of production units) of the basic model being tested must be selected at random and tested and must meet the criteria found in §§ 429.14 through 429.69 and § 429.76. Components of similar design may be substituted without additional testing if the substitution does not affect energy or water consumption. Any represented values of measures of energy efficiency, water efficiency, energy consumption, or water consumption for all individual models represented by a given basic model must be the same, except for central air conditioners and central air conditioning heat pumps, as specified in § 429.16; and

(13) Product specific information listed in §§ 429.14 through 429.63 of this chapter.

(a) A manufacturer of covered products or covered equipment explicitly authorized to use an AEDM in §§ 429.14 through 429.69 may not distribute any basic model of such product or equipment in commerce unless the manufacturer has determined the energy consumption or energy efficiency of the basic model, either from testing the basic model in conjunction with DOE's certification sampling plans and statistics or from applying an alternative method for determining energy efficiency or energy use (i.e., AEDM) to the basic model, in accordance with the requirements of this section. In instances where a manufacturer has tested a basic model to validate the AEDM, the represented value of energy consumption or efficiency of that basic model must be determined and certified according to results from actual testing in conjunction with 10 CFR part 429, subpart B certification sampling plans and statistics. In addition, a manufacturer may not knowingly use an AEDM to overrate the efficiency of a basic model.

(a) Where § 429.14 through § 429.562 authorize the use of an alternative method for determining a physical or operating characteristic other than the energy consumption or efficiency, such characteristics must be determined either by testing in accordance with the applicable test procedure and applying the specified sampling plan provisions established in those sections or as described in the appropriate product-specific paragraph below. In all cases, the computer-aided design (CAD) models, measurements, and calculations used to determine the rating for the physical or operating characteristic shall be retained as part of the test records underlying the certification of the basic model in accordance with § 429.71.

(c) The total refrigerated volume of a basic model of refrigerator, refrigerator-freezer, or freezer may be determined by performing a calculation of the volume based upon computer-aided design (CAD) models of the basic model in lieu of physical measurements of a production unit of the basic model. Any value of total refrigerated volume of a basic model reported to DOE in a certification of compliance in accordance with § 429.14(b)(2) must be calculated using the CAD-derived volume(s) and the applicable provisions in the test procedures in 10 CFR part 430 for measuring volume, and must be within two percent, or 0.5 cubic feet (0.2 cubic feet for compact products), whichever is greater, of the volume of a production unit of the basic model measured in accordance with the applicable test procedure in 10 CFR part 430.

(3) Air cleaner means a product for improving indoor air quality, other than a central air conditioner, room air conditioner, portable air conditioner, dehumidifier, or furnace, that is an electrically-powered, self-contained, mechanically encased assembly that contains means to remove, destroy, or deactivate particulates, VOC, and/or microorganisms from the air. It excludes products that operate solely by means of ultraviolet light without a fan for air circulation.

All-refrigerator means a refrigerator that does not include a compartment capable of maintaining compartment temperatures below 32 °F (0 °C) as determined according to the provisions in § 429.14(d)(2) of this chapter. It may include a compartment of 0.50 cubic-foot capacity (14.2 liters) or less for the freezing and storage of ice.

Annual fuel utilization efficiency means the efficiency descriptor for furnaces and boilers, determined using test procedures prescribed under section 323 and based on the assumption that all—