Rationale

The calibration section in ASTM E84 specifies that (1) the test chamber be preheated before the red oak calibration tests are conducted (see section 7.6), and (2) the chamber is allowed to cool down in between tests if the temperature indicated by the floor thermocouple at 13 ft (3.96 m) is higher than 105 °F ± 5 °F (40.5 °C ± 2.8 °C) (section 7.7) . However, there are no preheat and cool down requirements in section 8, which describes the test procedure. It seems logical to specify the same (or similar) preheat and cool down requirements in the procedure section, which is the purpose of the present ballot.