(a) Manufacturers shall declare the applicable useful life category for each engine family at the time of certification as described in this section. Such category shall be the category which most closely approximates the expected useful lives of the equipment into which the engines are anticipated to be installed as determined by the engine manufacturer. Manufacturers shall retain data appropriate to support their choice of useful life category for each engine family. Such data shall be furnished to the Administrator upon request.
(1) For nonhandheld engines: Manufacturers shall select a useful life category from Table 1 of this section at the time of certification. Engines with gross power output greater than 19 kW that have an engine displacement less than or equal to one liter that optionally certify under this part as allowed in §90.1(a), must certify to a useful life period of 1,000 hours.
(2) Table 1 follows:
Table 1: Useful Life Categories for Nonhandheld Engines [hours]
Class I | 125 | 250 | 500 |
Class II | 250 | 500 | 1000 |
Class I-A | 50 | 125 | 300 |
Class I-B | 125 | 250 | 500 |
(3) For handheld engines: Manufacturers shall select a useful life category from Table 2 of this paragraph (a) at the time of certification.
(4) Table 2 follows:
Table 2: Useful Life Categories for Handheld Engines (Hours)
Class III | 50 | 125 | 300 |
Class IV | 50 | 125 | 300 |
Class V | 50 | 125 | 300 |
(5) Data to support a manufacturer's choice of useful life category, for a given engine family, may include but are not limited to:
(i) Surveys of the life spans of the equipment in which the subject engines are installed;
(ii) Engineering evaluations of field aged engines to ascertain when engine performance deteriorates to the point where usefulness and/or reliability is impacted to a degree sufficient to necessitate overhaul or replacement;
(iii) Warranty statements and warranty periods;
(iv) Marketing materials regarding engine life;
(v) Failure reports from engine customers; and
(vi) Engineering evaluations of the durability, in hours, of specific engine technologies, engine materials or engine designs.
(b) [Reserved]
[64 FR 15238, Mar. 30, 1999, as amended at 65 FR 24307, Apr. 25, 2000]