UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK

, NC 27711



# DEC 16 2011 OFF I C E OF

A I R QUALITY PLANN I NG

AND S TANDARDS



### MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT:

FROM:

TO: Voluntary Consensus Standard Results for Standards of Performance for New Residential

Wood Heaters, New Residential Hydronic Heaters and Fo rc ed-A ir Furnaces, and New

Re s idential Masonry Heaters 40 CFR Pat1 60

, Subparts AAA, QQQQ, and RRRR

Conniesue B. Oldham

, Group Leader

# ~**tJ.~** Measurement Technology Group (E 143-02)

Chebry ll Edwards, Group Leade r

Regu l ato r y Development and Policy Group (C404-05)

At your r equest, t h e Mea s urement Technolo gy Group (MTG) of the Office of Air Quality Planning and

Standards (OAQPS) conducted sea rche s and review s to address the National Tec hn ology Transfer and

Advancement Act (NTTAA) r e quirem e nts on th e u se of voluntary consensus s tandard s (VCS). The

NIT AA direct s EPA to use VCS in r eg ulatory and procur e ment activities unle ss doin g so wou l d b e

inconsistent with a pplicable l aw or oth e rwi se impracticabl e. This m e morandum document s th e r es ult s of

the MTG searches and reviews to d e termine ifVCS are availab l e and practica l for use in li e u of stationary

so urce method s cited in the Re s ult s for Standards of Performance for New Res id entia l Wood Heaters, New

Re s i dentia l Hydronic Heater s and Forced-Air Furnaces

, and New Residentia l Masonry Heater s 40 CF R

Part 60, Subparts AAA, QQQQ, and RRRR

In 1998

, OAQPS be ga n implementing the r eq uirement s of the NTT AA by conducting searc h es to identify

VCS. Searc h es co n ti n ue to be performed t o meet the requirement s ofthe NTTAA. While we have m a de a

r easo n a ble effort to id e ntify and eva luate pot e ntially practical VCS

, our findin gs do not nec essa rily

r e pr ese nt all potentia l a l ternative sta ndard s which may exist.

The MTG parti c ipat es in the Amer i can Society for Testing and M ater ial s (ASTM)

, w hi ch i s one of th e

mo s t active VCS organizations on e mi ss ion s testing, and has be e n invit ed to pat1icipate in th e USA

Technical Advisory Gro up for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) relatin g to emissions

monitorin g. We expect th ese addit i ona l effot1s will help us to s upport a periodi c revi ew of all EPA

reference method s and performance sta ndard s fo r po ss ible incorpo r ation by ref e rence (IBR) ofVCS in lieu

of or as a lt e rnative s to EPA proc e dur es. W e anticipate that the se activities will provide an opportunity for

further r ev i ew, consideration and possib l e IBR ofVCS overlooked in the National Standards Service

Network (NSSN) sea rche s or finali zed after Federal agency r e view in the EPA rulemakin g p rocess.

W e conducted sea rche s for Standards of Performance for New Residentia l Wood Heaters, New Residentia l

Hydronic Heaters and Forced-Air Furnaces, and New Res id ential Ma so nry Heaters 40 CFR Part 60,

Subparts AAA, QQQQ, and RRRR through the E nhanc e d NSSN Database mana ge d b y the American

Int e rn e t Addr ess (URL) • http :// www .e pa

. go v

Re c yc l ed/Recyc l ab l e • Print e d wnh V e g e tabl e O i l B ase d Ink s o n R e cy c l e d P ap e r (Minimum 25% Po s t c on s um e r)

### 2

National Standards Institute (ANSI). We also contacted VCS organizations, and accessed and searched

their databases.

Searches were conducted for EPA Methods 50, 5H, 22, 28, 28A, 28R (proposal), 28 WHH (proposal) of

40 CFR Part 60, Appendix A. No applicable voluntary consensus standards were identified for EPA

Methods 50 and 22. The EPA has also decided to use ASTM E2515-l 0, E2618-09, E2779-l 0, E2780-l 0,

E2817-ll, WK26558, CSA B415.1-l 0 and EN303-5 in this rule.

Three voluntary consensus standards were identified as acceptable alternatives to the EPA test methods for

the purpose of this rule. The voluntary consensus standard ASTM E871-82 (2006), "Standard Test Method

for Moisture Analysis of Particulate Wood Fuels" is acceptable as an alternative to Methods 5H and 28.

The voluntary consensus standard ASTM E2515-l 0, "Standard Test Method for Determination of

Particulate Matter Emissions Collected by a Dilution Tunnel" is acceptable as an alternative for pattieulate

measurement portion of Methods 28R (proposal) and 28 WHH (proposal). The voluntary consensus

standard ASTM E2780-l 0, "Standard Test Method for Determining Patticulate Matter Emissions from

Wood Heaters is acceptable as an alternative to Method 28R (proposal) with the following conditions:

1.0 Scope and Application



### 1.1 This test method applies to certification and auditing of wood-fired room heaters and fireplace

inserts.

1.2 The test method covers the fueling and operating protocol for measuring particulate emissions,

as well as determining burn rates, heat output and efficiency.

1.3 Particulate emissions are measured by the dilution tunnel method as specified in ASTM E2515

Standard Test Method for Determination of Particulate Matter Emissions Collected in a Dilution

Tunnel.

2.0 Procedures

2.1 This method incorporates the provisions of ASTM E2780-l 0 except as follows:

2.1.1 The burn rate categories, low burn rate requirement, and weightings in Method 28 shall be

used.

2.1.2 The startup procedures shall be the same as in Method 28.

2.1.3 The equation for converting the emission test values between the EPA Reference Method 50

"Determination of Particulate Emissions From Wood Heaters From a Dilution Tunnel Sampling

Location" and EPA Reference Method 5H "Determination of Particulate Emissions From Wood

### 3

From Wood Heaters From a Stack Location" shall be the same as in Method 28.

2.1.4 Manufacturers shall not specify a smaller volume of the firebox for testing than the full

usable firebox.

2. I .5 The test fuel moisture content, fuel load, and coal bed depth shall be as follows:

2. I .5 (a) The fuel load dry-basis moisture content shall be within a range of 22.5 percent+/- I

percent

2.1.5 9b) The fuel load weight shall be 7 lb/ft 3 

### +/- I percent (or 7 lb +/-0.07 lb) of the fuel load

weight, calculated in accordance with Method 28.

2.1.6 (c) The range for the test-initiation coal-bed weight shall be 22 percent+/- 1 percent of the

fuel load weight.

During the search, if the title or abstract (if provided) of the VCS described technical sampling and

analytical procedures that are similar to EPA's reference method, the MTG considered it as a potential

equivalent method. All potential standards were reviewed to determine the practicality of the VCS for this

rule. This review requires significant method validation data which meets the requirements of EPA

Method 30 I for accepting alternative methods or scientific, engineering and policy equivalence to

procedures in EPA reference methods. The MTG may reconsider determinations of impracticality when

additional information is available for particular VCS.

The search identified five other VCS that were potentially applicable for this rule in lieu of EPA reference

methods. After reviewing the available standards, EPA determined that five candidate VCS (ASTM

El358-97 (2006), ASTM E872-82 (2006), ASTM E1534-93 (2006), ASTM E319-85 (2008), ASTM PTC

19.5. I (I 

### 964)) identified for measuring emissions of pollutants or their surrogates subject to emission

standards in the rule would not be practical due to lack of equivalency, documentation, validation data

and other important technical and policy considerations. These five methods are listed in Attachment I,

along with the EPA review comments.

I hope our research into this matter has been useful and timely to your Groups efforts in this rulemaking.

Please contact me at (9I9) 54I-7774 with any further questions in this matter.

Attachments

cc: Rima Howell, EPNAQAD (EI43-02)

Michael Toney, EPNAQAD (EI43-02)

Gil Wood, EPNSPPD (C404-05)Attachment1.ListofVoluntaryConsensusStandardsNotApplicableforStandardsofPerformanceforNewResidentialWoodHeaters,NewResidentialHydrouicHeatersaudForced-AirFurnaces,audNewResidentialMasonryHeaters40CFRPart60,SubpartsAAA,QQQQ,audRRRR.SIMILAREPASTANDARDVOLUNTARYCONSENSUSSTANDARDEPA'SCOMMENTSONVOLUNTARYCONSENSUSREFERENCESTANDARDMETHODEPAMethods5HandASTME1358-97(1997)-StandardTestMethodforASTMrecommendsthatthisstandardbeusedforspot128DeterminationofMoistureContentofParticulatechecksonly.Therefore,itislikelytobenotasaccurateasaWoodFuelsUsingaMicrowaveOvenmoisturemeterusedinEPAMethods5Hand28.EPAMethod5HandASTME872-82(2006)-StandardTestMethodofGoodmethod,butnotapplicabletoanypartoftheseEPA28AVolatileMatterintheAnalysisofParticulateWoodmethods,sincetheEPAmethodsassumeaconstantforFuelswoodhydrocarboncontent.CouldbeusefultotheEPAinfuturemethodrevisionsorforspecialwood-typesituations.EPAMethod5HandASTMEl534-93(1998)-StandardTestMethodforGoodmethod,butnotapplicabletoanypartoftheseEPA28ADeterminationofAshContentofParticulateWoodmethods,sincetheEPAmethodsassumeaconstantforFuelswoodcarboncontent.CouldbeusefultotheEPAinfuturemethodrevisionsorforspecialwood-typesituations.EPAMethod28ASTME319-85(1997)-StandardPracticefortheThisstandardisnotacompleteweighingprocedureasisEvaluationofSingle-PanMechanicalBalancesEPAMethod28becausethestandardlacksapretestprocedure.EPAMethod28ASMEPTC19.5.1(1964)-PowerTestCodes,ThisstandardisnotacompleteweighingprocedureasisSupplementOnInstrumentsandApparatus,Part5,EPAMethod28,forthestandardneitherspecifiestheexactMeasurementofQuantityofMaterials,ChapterI,numberofinitialcalibrationweightstobeusednorincludeaWeighingScalesspecificpretestweightprocedure.