Outdoor Power Equipment
In warmer months, 54 million Americans use 800 million gallons of gas per year to tend to their lawns with outdoor, gasoline-powered equipment like lawn mowers, garden tractors, and mulchers, according to estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Preventing fuel leakages is a common performance-related issue that gasoline-powered equipment manufacturers are continually combatting.
ANSI/OPEI B71.10-2013, Off-Road Ground-Supported Outdoor Power Equipment - Gasoline Fuel Systems - Performance Specifications and Test Procedures, was recently released to aid equipment manufacturers and protect people and the environment from potentially harmful fuel leaks. This revised ANS from the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) describes performance-based specifications and test procedures applicable to the gasoline fuel systems for off-road, ground-supported, outdoor power equipment with spark ignition engines of less than one liter displacement.
An ANSI organizational member and accredited standards developer, OPEI is an international trade association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of consumer and commercial outdoor power equipment such as lawnmowers, garden tractors, edgers, chain saws, snow throwers, leaf blowers, and other related products. OPEI works to assist, advance, and foster the economic interest of its membership by providing accurate and timely worldwide information, promoting the effective and safe use of outdoor power equipment, and representing industry interests in legislative and regulatory affairs.