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New Test Procedure Will Mean Lower EnerGuide Ratings for Dishwashers

EnerGuide ratings for all dishwashers sold in Canada will drop in early 2004 with the introduction of a new procedure for testing the energy consumption of these appliances. The changes will be implemented through an amendment to the Energy Efficiency Regulations and are intended to harmonize with new regulatory requirements recently enacted in the United States.

What is changing?

The key changes in the proposed test procedure are as follows:

• The number of dishwasher loads used to calculate the rating will be reduced. The existing test procedure calculates annual energy consumption on the basis of 264 loads per year. However, new survey data indicates that consumers use their dishwashers on average only 215 times per year, which is the number that will be used in the new test procedure.
  
  
• A new test procedure will be introduced for soil-sensing dishwashers. The soil-sensing mechanism on these units will be tested using heavy, medium and light soil loads. The dishwasher's energy factor (which in turn is used to determine its kilowatt-hour rating) will be calculated by averaging the energy consumption figures from the three test loads.
  
  
• Standby power consumption (the energy used when the appliance is idle) will be included when calculating estimated annual energy use for all dishwashers.

How will the new test procedure affect EnerGuide and EnergyGuide labelling?

The reduced number of wash loads per year (and to a lesser extent the new test procedure for soil-sensing models) will result in lower kilowatt-hour ratings for all dishwasher models sold in Canada and the United States.

These lower ratings are already appearing on the U.S. EnergyGuide label (the black and yellow label). Until the new procedure takes effect in Canada, however, kilowatt-hour ratings for EnerGuide labels (the black and white label) will continue to be calculated on the basis of 264 loads per year.

As a result, there may be situations where the kilowatt-hour rating for a dishwasher shown on the U.S. EnergyGuide label will be different from that shown on the EnerGuide label (the two labels are often displayed back to back). In response to this situation, Natural Resources Canada will allow manufacturers/retailers to place information near the EnerGuide label indicating that the kilowatt-hour rating was determined on the basis of 264 loads per year.