The U.S. Department of Energy has issued rules related to the testing of energy consumption for refrigerated beverage vending machines, according to a news bulletin from the National Automatic Merchandising Association. The DOE has decided to adopt several enforcement sampling provisions that take account of low-volume or built-to-order consumer products and commercial equipment.
First, DOE specifies provisions for certain covered products and equipment where there is a lower volume market and manufacturing tends to be more customized. These include automatic commercial ice makers, commercial refrigeration equipment, refrigerated bottled or canned vending machines, commercial HVAC and WH equipment, and distribution transformers.
The initial sample size of these units matches that of high-volume consumer and commercial equipment, which is four units. Second, DOE is including a provision that provides for testing of fewer than four units if they are unavailable at the time the test notice is received.
While these provisions were proposed in September 2010, DOE has attempted to clarify them to aid manufacturers in determining the exact sample size required for enforcement testing depending on product or equipment type.
Finally, DOE has also included a general provision applicable to all covered products and covered equipment, which allows DOE to use its discretion in determining the sample size when covered products and covered equipment are generally unavailable. DOE will use many of the considerations that interested parties noted above in their comments, including the availability of units and the availability of third-party testing facilities to run the DOE test procedure. The document, with requirements including annual certification, can be found at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/pdfs/cce_finalrule_notice.pdf.
The easiest way to review this 268 page rule is to open the document and use the "Find" tool at the top of the site to search for the word "vending."
