Rinse Performance Requirements for Clothes Washers

For some years the Australian Government through Standards Australia committee EL15/4 has sought to develop a reliable test method for measuring the rinse performance of clothes washing machines.

The introduction of a Rinse Performance requirement will facilitate the introduction of mandatory water efficiency rating and labelling in Australia in 2006. Without a rinse performance requirement high water efficiency ratings could be achieved by reducing rinse performance to levels that would not meet the needs of washing machine users.

Accordingly, Amendment 4 to AS/NZS 2040.1-1998 a new revision of AS/NZS 2040.1 both contain a method for determination of rinse performance and a mandatory minimum performance level which will be a pre-requisite for mandatory water labelling from July 2006.

The mandatory rinse performance level is a maximum concentration of 2.25 mg PBIS per kg of load. This performance level is an interim performance requirement and submissions and test data are sought from industry and other stakeholders for consideration at the EL15/4 standard committee meeting in November 2005 where a final level will be set.

Further information on rinse performance can be found below:

Full Technical Report: Method for the Determination of Rinse Performance in Clothes Washers (2.5 MB) - this report was prepared by EES for The Department of Environment and Heritage. It contains a summary, reports and results for Stages 1 to 3 of the development work inclusive plus the test method which is being included in the forthcoming amendment and revision to AS/NZS 2040.1.

Result Report Forms: Stakeholders that wish to report rinse performance results for consideration at the EL15/4 meeting in November 2005 should use this Excel spreadsheet to report their test results. Submissions must be forwarded to EES or energyrating@environment.gov.au by 31 October 2005.

Water Labelling Requirements: Mandatory water labelling requirements are set out in AS/NZS 6400 which can be purchased from Standards Australia. Further information can also be obtained from the Water Rating web site.

Revisions to Clothes Washer Standards: The following standards contain rinse performance requirements (all are due for publication by Standards Australia in mid 2005):

AS/NZS2040: Clothes washing machines Part 1: Energy Consumption and Performance, 1998 Amendment 4.

AS/NZS2040: Clothes washing machines Part 1: Energy Consumption and Performance, 2005 revision.

AS/NZS2040: Clothes washing machines Part 2: Energy Labelling Requirements, 2005 revision.

This page last modified 27 June 2007