Starting on April 16, 2015 manufacturers will have new residential water heater efficiency standards from the NAECA (National Appliance Energy Conservation Act) to adhere to, and will no longer be able to manufacturer units that do not comply with these standards. These standards involve increasing the efficiency factor (EF) for residential water heaters, including gas-fired, oil-fired, and electric & gas tankless water heaters.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- As a homeowner, you’ll still be able to buy and have installed a water heater that does not comply with these standards, however, manufacturers are no longer able to manufacturer any product that does not comply with the new standards.
- Some models on the market today already meet the NAECA standards. You can ask your local Indianapolis Plumbing Expert to find out which ones are affected.
- In order to increase the efficiency, the new units will have additional insulation, increasing their size, up to 2 inches taller and 2 inches wider. The larger size may require two installers and may not fit in to current installation sites, causing space constraints.
- The 55 gallon and above units will undergo the largest changes. In some cases with increases in EF by 1.0 or more!
- Higher efficiency units mean less energy usage and lower utility bills.
According to the DOE, these standards will save approximately 3.3 Quads of energy, resulting in $63 Billion in energy bill savings from product shipped from 2015-2044. The U.S. should also avoid about 172.5 million metric tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. That’s the equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of about 33.8 automobiles.
The biggest changes with these new standards involve the increased efficiencies (lower energy bills), and the larger sized units (space constraints). Please feel free to contact Mister Quik and we’ll be happy to help answer any of your questions.
