Energy Conservation Program: Petition for Waiver of Bradford White Corporation From the Department of Energy Consumer Water Heaters Test Procedure and Grant of Interim Waiver

Résumé

This document announces receipt of and publishes a petition for waiver from Bradford White Corporation ("BWC"), which seeks a waiver for a specified consumer water heater basic model from the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") test procedure used for determining the efficiency of consumer water heaters. BWC asserts that for that identified basic model, application of the calculation specified in the DOE test procedure to determine recovery efficiency yields an "artificially high" value that in turn results in a lower overall uniform energy factor value. Consequently, BWC seeks to use an alternate test procedure to address issues involved in testing the basic model identified in its petition. More specifically, BWC has requested that DOE waive the equation for calculating recovery efficiency of the consumer gas-fired storage water heater basic model for which the first occurrence of the main burner cutting out ("cut- out") occurs during a draw. Instead, BWC requests that the recovery efficiency for this water heater be calculated using a revised recovery efficiency equation that accounts for the first cut-out occurring during a draw. For the reasons discussed in this document, DOE gr