How has the efficiency of water heaters changed?
The Government Changed Efficiencies of Water Heaters in 2016 Making Them Larger in Size
- Who was behind these rulings?
- The new regulations
- How does a common man get affected by this ruling?
2015 was the year when the manufacturers of different kinds of water heaters in the USA were bound to follow the new regulations, enforced by the authorities in order to make their equipment compliant with the energy efficiency standards. This applied to all types of water heaters, including the electric, propane, gas and residential ones. Several changes were made by the authorities in this regard, but the most noticeable one was the fact that they got bigger in size. A few details on how these new changes might affect you as an owner are discussed below.
The rulings were enforced as a result of the approval of the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act by the US congress. It is now being administered and implemented by America's DoE which is the very same department that takes care of the Energy Start program as well. The introduction of the new rulings was pretty much a game changer and it has really changed the entire direction of the water heater business in the USA.
The ruling bound all the heaters manufactured after 16th of April 2015 to follow the new standards of energy efficiency. According to these regulations, the heaters were bound to increase their efficiency by 3% to 30% according to the size as well as the model. The percentage varied according to the size of the water heater tank. In other words, water heaters with larger tanks were bound to become more energy efficient while the smaller ones required to be in the right proportion according to their sizes and proposed efficiencies.
- Installing it at your place
- Manufacturer price increase
- Custom installation solutions required
- Some of the large tanks could be discontinued
In case your tankless water heater provides you an efficiency rating of more than 0.82, it is already compliant to the new regulations. However, if you are a resident of apartment buildings, you need to go through the information discussed below in order to find out how you will get affected by these new regulations.
As mentioned above, the new compliant water heaters are going to be larger in size. That's why you need to make enough room at your place in order to ensure their proper installation.
As the heaters are supposed to become larger in size, they will get more expensive than before. So get ready to pay additional sums of money while buying a new water heater.
In order for the new water heaters to get properly installed, there might be a requirement for custom installation solutions. So you may need to make some appropriate changes at your place for the new heaters to be installed properly.
In case you own large sized electric water heaters, there is a good chance that they might discontinue and get a declaration of being obsolete as well.