Data Requests for Standards Rulemaking for Residential 

Clothes Dryers and Room Air-Conditioners – 01/09/2009 

Clothes Dryers 

1. Shipment-weighted average remaining moisture content (RMC) over time for 

residential clothes washers for top-loading units, front-loading units, and 

combined. 

The file attached below summarizes total shipments for front-loading and toploading units from 2002 through 2008. Shipment-weighted RMC values are also 

shown for the front-load and top-load configurations. Note that the total 

shipments shown in this table were the shipments used to calculate the weighted 

RMC values. These shipments will be lower than those typically reported, as 

members did not provide RMC values for all units. 

AHAM RMC summary 

2.pdf

2. Data regarding consumer usage patterns for residential clothes dryers- the # of 

annual use cycles. Preferably the number of dryer use cycles independent of 

wash cycles. If not, then the % of loads washed that are machine dried. 

AHAM does not collect data on patterns of residential clothes dryer use. 

Confidential industry data suggests that DOE’s proposed value of 329 cycles per 

year is more representative than the current 416 cycles per year, but still on the 

high end. While dated, 1997 information from NRCan on winter dryer use (5.8 

loads per week; 302 cycles per year) is a realistic value for the United States 

(http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/infosource/pub/energy_use/sheu_e/sheu

_5.cfm). 

3. Has AHAM made any progress on the development of a clothes dryer test 

procedure which tests dryer operation using automatic termination? 

AHAM HLD-1 is currently undergoing revision. We expect the standard to be 

finalized in 2nd quarter 2009. The revised standard addresses automatic 

termination by terminating the test immediately prior to the start of the cool down 

period. Timer-dryers are set to a specific time. Heat and total energy are both 

measured.

4. Is AHAM developing test methodology for condensing dryers? 

EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010 COMMENT 17
AHAM is not currently developing a test methodology for condensing dryers. 

There is an IEC standard for this technology; however, we expect that it would 

need to be modified for use in the U.S. (effect on HVAC is one area of concern). 

Room Air Conditioners 

1. Data regarding consumer usage patterns – room air-conditioner annual hours of 

operation. 

AHAM does not collect data on consumer usage patterns of room air conditioners 

or hours of operation. 

EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010 COMMENT 17
AHAMWeightedRMCforFrontLoadandTopLoadUnits,20002008

DOEClothesDryerRulemaking,SecondaryDataRequestFebruary13,2009

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

232714 235989 280667 351411 1179813 1563108 1851218 686440 473629 529265 1676877 5270285 5394511 1552827919154 709618 809932 2028288 6450098 6957619 1737949

43.6 41.3 41.5 43.1 42.2 40.8 39.3 57.4 57.7 58.1 54.5 52.8 52.7 51.8 53.9 52.2 52.3 52.5 50.9 50.1 50.5 

*TotalshipmentswithRMCreported.Willnotbeequaltoactualshipmentsoffrontandtoploadunitsreportedfor200020TotalShipments*WeightedRMC(FrontLoad)WeightedRMC(TopLoad)WeightedRMC(overall)TotalShipments*(FrontLoad)TotalShipments*(TopLoad)

EERE-2007-BT-STD-0010 COMMENT 17