US plans water heater standards, says will save consumers $11 billion yearly

MSN ^ | 7/21/2023

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The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday proposed energy efficiency standards on water heaters it said would save consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills annually.

The standards on residential water heater efficiency, which are required by Congress, have not been updated in 13 years. Water heating is responsible for roughly 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, the DOE said.

The proposal would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through condensing technology.

[Pocketdoor]

Triple the complexity too. The a newer gas water I installed 6 years ago had the Gas regulator go out 1 month after the 5 year warranty expired... cost $500 for a new regulator. Took over a week to get the part. New water heaters suck. Newer ones will suck even more.

[Svartalfiar]

Far better and more efficient, Tankless, Point-of-Use Water Heaters:

Better and more efficient until you actually want hot water. Had a couple buddies who've had them, they all complain about the lack of truly hot water, especially if you're running anything else at the same time as the shower.

[ronnie raygun]

defund these agencies and prosecute the heads

[BobL]

“Triple the complexity too. The a newer gas water I installed 6 years ago had the Gas regulator go out 1 month after the 5 year warranty expired... cost $500 for a new regulator. Took over a week to get the part. New water heaters suck. Newer ones will suck even more.”

I agree that will get more complex (and of course more expensive), but they may also get more reliable, as the recent changes in design (starting about 10-15 years ago) had the manufactures trying to comply with the rules to contain an explosion, with an almost-sealed combustion chamber, which led to the pilots going out due to inadequate airflow or the thermocouple failing.

Easy solution for that would have been to use a system without a pilot, but that would mean requiring 120V, which would have greatly driven up the overall cost of replacement for people who didn’t have easy access to 120V. So the manufacturers tried to thread the needle, which meant keeping the pilot, while complying with the almost-sealed chamber. FAILURE!!!

Now, with the condensing requirement, 120V is required anyway, so no more pilots, and thus no more pilot issues.