VOC Emission Test Chamber Test Procedures

3.8.5.1 Chamber cleaning and preparation: Prior to reuse, the chamber shall be fully disassembled and washed. At a minimum, the chamber and components shall be washed with a dilute solution of laboratory detergent in warm water, thoroughly rinsed with clean water and dried. Alternative cleaning methods may be used provided that the background chamber concentrations can meet the requirements specified in section

3.8.4.3. The clean chamber shall be operated at the test conditions for a minimum of three full air changes prior to making a background measurement or introducing a test specimen.

3.8.5.2 Background measurement: Chamber background measurements shall be made on a regular basis according to the laboratory's quality management system. At a minimum,the background of VOCs and aldehydes shall be determined prior to each third use of a chamber. VOC and aldehyde samples are to be collected as described in Section 3.8.6 to provide lower quantitation limits of at least 2 μg m~ for individual VOCs and 25μg m~3 for TVOC.

3.8.5.3 Specimen loading: Test specimens shall be taken directly from the conditioning facility and placed in a cleaned test chamber minimizing the time the specimen is exposed to laboratory air. Generally, this time shall not exceed 15 minutes. In a rectangular chamber with flat surfaces, the specimen may be placed directly on the floor of the chamber without additional support. In a horizontally oriented cylindrical chamber, a wire rack shall be used to hold the specimen near the midpoint of the chamber. A wire rack may also be used in a rectangular chamber. There shall be sufficient space for chamber air to circulate freely around the exposed face of the specimen. The specimen loading factor shall be0.3- 1.0m2 m3.

3.8.5.4 Chamber air leakage: The air leakage of the chamber shall be determined immediately after loading a test specimen. This is accomplished by measuring the flow rate at the chamber exhaust and comparing this to the supply airflow rate. The flow measurement device shall have low pressure drop. Bubble flow meters and low-pressure drop rotameters are suitable for use. The exhaust flow rate shall be within 10% of the inlet flow rate by this method.

3.8.5.5 Replicate chamber tests: A fraction of the tests shall be conducted in replicate using specimens prepared from the same product sample. The fraction of replicates is determined by the laboratory's quality management system, but at least one replicate is required for every twenty tests.