On March 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a pair of Federal Register notices on final rules that establish national emission standards for commercial, institutional, and industrial boilers that are “major” or “area” sources, respectively, reports the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. Both the area source and the major source rules exempt new boilers with input rates of less than 10,000,000 Btu/hr. from any specific emission standards.

The area source rule does require that a tune-up be performed every two years on existing oil-fired boilers with input rates less than 10,000,000 Btu/hr., which meet the EPA definition of either a commercial, institutional or industrial boiler and which are an area source of emissions.

The major source rule also requires that a tune-up be performed every two years on existing gas and oil-fired boilers with input rates less than 10,000,000 Btu/hr., which meet the EPA definition of either a commercial, institutional or industrial boiler and which are installed in a facility that is a major source of emissions.

In conjunction with the issuance of these rules, the EPA issued a separate notice announcing that it is initiating a process to reconsider some aspects of these two rules. This notice did not provide a schedule for this reconsideration process, but AHRI expects additional information from the EPA shortly.