1 

### JOSEPH CARLE

From: KEVIN J. WILLIAMS

Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 3:24 PM

To: JOSEPH CARLE; ALETA KENNARD Subject: FW: EPA Comments on Sacramento Rule 414

From: Steckel.Andrew@epamail.epa.gov [mailto:Steckel.Andrew@epamail.epa.gov]

Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 2:59 PM

To: KEVIN J. WILLIAMS; mguzzett@arb.ca.gov

Cc: Perez.Idalia@epamail.epa.gov Subject: EPA Comments on Sacramento Rule 414



### United States Environmental Protection Agency

Region IX

75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

December 07, 2009

Transmittal of EPA Rule Review Comments

To: Kevin Williams, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District kjwilliams@airquality.org

Mike Guzzetta, California Air Resources Board mguzzett@arb.ca.gov

From: Andrew Steckel, Rulemaking Office Chief steckel.andrew@epa.gov

Re: Rule 414, Water Heaters (Draft provided to EPA 10/25/09)

We are providing comments based on our preliminary review of the draft rule identified above. Please direct any questions in this regard to me at (415) 947-4115 or to Idalia Perez at (415) 972-3248.

1. We recommend that the exemption for Pool/Spa Heaters with a heat input less than 75,000 Btu/hr found in Section 111 be eliminated. For example, SJV Rule 4902 eliminates this exemption effective 1/1/2010.

2. The District should consider changing the compliance deadline of 1/1/2013 to an earlier date similar to SJV Proposed Rule 4308 (November 5, 2009) which has a compliance deadline of 1/1/2011. The extended compliance deadline for Sacramento seems unnecessary since compliant equipment should be available sooner nearby to adhere with SJV 4308.

### STATE OF CALIFORNIA

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

## AIR RESOURCES BOARD

P. O. Box 2815 Sacramento, California 95812

December 15, 2009

ARB Staff Rule Review Results

To: Mr. Kevin Williams, Associate Air Quality Engineer Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Telephone Number: (916) 874-4851 e-mail: kjwilliams@airquality.org

From: Alex Krichevsky, (916) 324-6222 e-mail: akrichev@arb.ca.gov

The following rule, which is scheduled for workshop to be held by your District staff on December 16, 2009, was received by us on November 20, 2009, for our review:

Rule 414 Natural Gas-Fired Water Heaters



### The Air Resources Board staff has reviewed the rule and, based on the information available to us at this time, we have no comments.

The rule was examined by the following ARB divisions: Stationary Source and Monitoring and Laboratory.

If you have any questions, please contact me by e-mail or at the telephone number

above.

### December 15, 2009

Mr. Joe Carle Sacramento Metropolitan AQMD

777 12 th 

### St., 3 rd 

### Floor Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Mr. Carle:

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeratio n Institute (AHRI) is a national trade association representing manuf acturers of space heating, water heating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment and components. AHRI’s 300 member companies include nearly all the manufacturers of gas water heaters, boilers and other equipment proposed to be covered by the amendments to Rule 414 (Water Heater s, Boilers and Process Heaters Rated Less Than 1,000,000 Btu per Hour). We have reviewed the proposed amendments to Rule 414 along with the accompanying staff report and have the following comments.

Section 102

We are concerned that the expa nsion of this rule to incl ude equipment fired by nongaseous fuels has not been adequately analyzed or jus tified. The staff report expresses the belief that there are currently no units fired by wood, coal or fuel oil operating in the district. If that is correct then what is the need to regulate product s not being used in the district. There are no emission reductions to be achieved by such a regulation. Conversely, if the staff report is in error and, for example, there are some oil-fire d water heaters or boile rs operating in the district then applying a rule de veloped for gas-fired products w ithout further analysis of the differences between oil-fired and ga s-fired products is inappropriate.

Section 301

The proposed 6 month delay in the effective date of the revised NOx emission limits is too short for the expanded scope of this amended rule . While it is more likely that residential gas storage waters can clear through the distribution chain and clear inventory in six months, the other types of water heaters and boilers proposed to be added to this rule are not sold and installed at anywhere near the frequency as th at of residential storag e water heaters. The staff report estimates that less than 2% of the units affected by this rule will be those with inputs in the range of 75,000 to 1,000,000 Btu/h. Distributors and wholesalers will still have to stock some of these units but with significan tly less demand some of these units will sit in inventory for more than 6 months. If this rule continues to be implemented at “point of sale,”

### we recommend a 12 month sell through period. The better solution would be to apply the

rule to the date of manufacture and then make th e revised rule effective six months after it is adopted. This is the implementation process that has been successfully used in the SCAQMD.

We appreciate this opportunity to provide comm ents on the proposed amended Rule 414. If you have any questions or need additional in formation regarding any of these comments please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Frank A. Stanonik

Chief Technical AdvisorRobert Glass, Raypak, Inc. Written Comments (February 18, 2010)

Comment #1: We applaud the decision to allow product manufactured before the effective dates to be distributed, offered for sale or sold for 6
months after the effective date of the new standards in order to allow distributor inventory to be sold.

Response: Thank you.

Comment #2: We understand the desire of the Sacramento Metropolitan AQMD to address currently "unregulated" water heaters, boilers and process heaters rated between 75,000 Btu/hr and 1,000,000 Btu/hr. We also applaud the decision to exclude units fueled by liquid petroleum gas (ie. propane). However, we question why the proposal extends to units fueled by gaseous and nongaseous fuels other than natural gas. The SCAQMD and the other 3 districts referenced only have requirements for product fueled by natural gas. When local, state and federal agencies are offering incentives for use of bio-fuels and other alternative fuel sources, we wonder what test protocol can be used to qualify the proposed NOx levels for these fuels (other than natural gas)?

If the Sacramento Metropolitan AQMD continues with the proposed revisions to include gaseous and nongaseous fuels other than natural gas in these changes, the proposed implementation date of 1/1/2011 is not appropriate. Manufacturers of products which would fall into this coverage would need much more time to make the necessary modifications to meet these very stringent requirements. Since they are NOT forced to meet these requirements in any other AQMD in California, this implementation period is totally insufficient.

Response: The test procedure for certifying units fired by fuels other than natural gas is in Section 501.2 of the proposed rule amendments.

Units fired by nongaseous fuels like oil, wood and coal produce much higher levels of particulate matter than gaseous fuels as
well as several toxic air contaminants. Our research indicates that there are very few, if any, currently used in Sacramento County. Converting from gaseous fuels to use of these more polluting fuels will exacerbate our air quality problems. Because other fuels are not widely used, many districts may have chosen not to establish
emissions standards for these devices. In the absence of emissions standards, in parts of the eastern United States these devices have gained popularity in recent years. These devices caused significant neighborhood health complaints, and eventually resulted in some communities banning installation 1 . Staff recommends these emissions standard provisions as a proactive

1 See EPA website for some community listings http://www.generalcode.com/samples/06Spr_1.htmlstep to avoid these problems. Applying the proposed emissions standards to these fuels will likely prevent boilers and water heaters using existing technologies from being installed in the District. Staff notes that Rapak Inc. currently only sells units fired on natural gas and propane.

Comment #3: Are the proposed changes for the water heaters rated less than 75,000 Btu per hour (excluding those used in mobile homes) limited to tank type water heaters? Raypak also makes water heaters in this input range that are not tank type heaters and this
needs to be clarified.

Response: The proposed changes apply to water heaters of any type, including tank type and instantaneous/tankless. Language has been added to Section 102 of the proposed rule to clarify the applicability. The proposed limits in SMAQMD Rule 414 for all types of water heaters rated less than 75,000 Btu/hr have been in effect in the South Coast AQMD (Rule 1121) since 1/1/2006 and in the Yolo-Solano AQMD (Rule 2.37) since 1/1/2010. The same standards will take effect in the Ventura County APCD (Rule 74.11) on 7/1/2010.

Comment #4: For units rated greater than or equal to 75,000 Btu/hr and less than 400,000 Btu/hr - why is the NOx level set at 40 ng/J (55 ppmv at 3% O2) until 1/1/2013? The previous SCAQMD levels (prior to 1/1/2010) were 20 ng/J (30 ppmv at 3% O2). Whereas the current SCAQMD levels for units in this rated capacity are 14 ng/J (20 ppmv at 3% O2) - effective 1/1/2010. We see that the proposal looks to make the new levels of 14ng/J (20 ppmv at 3% O2) effective 1/1/2013.

Response: The SCAQMD emission standards and effective dates stated in the comment actually apply to units greater than or equal to 400,000 Btu/hour but less than 2,000,000 Btu/hr. For this size range in proposed Rule 414 new units need to meet a 14 ng/J standard by the first effective date of 1/1/2011. Units greater than or equal to 75,000 Btu/hr but less than 400,000 will have to meet a standard of 40 ng/J on 1/1/2011, which is the standard currently effect in the SCAQMD. On 1/1/2012 this size range of units will need to meet a 14 ng/J standard in the SCAQMD. Staff decided to set a 14 ng/J standard in the SMAQMD a year later than the SCAQMD so that we can evaluate whether there are any early problems with manufacture, certificat ion, or availability of units meeting this standard in the South Coast district.

Comment #5: Are pool/spa heaters rated greater than or equal to 400,000 Btu/hr and less than 1,000,000 Btu/hr excluded from revisions like the exclusion for pool/spa heaters less than 400,000 Btu/hr listed in the proposal?Response: No. New pool/spa heaters greater than or equal to 400,000 Btu/hr and less than 1,000,000 Btu/hr must meet a standard of 14 ng/J by 1/1/2011. Please note that not all pool/spa heaters are exempt from Rule 414. New pool/spa heaters less than 75,000 Btu/hr are exempt from Rule 414 but new units greater than or equal to 75,000 Btu/hr and less than 400,000 Btu/hr must meet an emission standard of 40 ng/J by 1/1/2011. The emissions standards for new units greater than or equal to 75,000 Btu/hr are equivalent to SCAQMD Rule 1146.2.

Comment #6: Since propane is excluded from NOx requirements under Rule 414 (both current and proposed amendments), would it be correct to state that a dual fuel product (fueled by natural gas or propane gas) would ONLY have to show compliance with the stated NOx levels on natural gas?

Response: Yes. A unit that is capable of firing either natural gas or propane must demonstrate compliance only for firing on natural gas.