New EPA Water Heater Regs

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imaref

Active Member
Starting this Thursday (April 16, 2015) there are new EPA rules in place for the efficiency of water heaters. For those that have electric water heaters 55 gallons and higher, the only way to meet the EPA guidelines will be to pay through the nose and get a hybrid water heater. They are much, much bigger than the old style water heaters and may not fit in your existing space where you have you current water heater.

For those with smaller electric water heaters (less than 55 gallons), the new guidelines will mean that there will be much more insulation built into your unit in order to meet the minimum .96 energy factor and they will be taller/fatter than current models.

From what I can gather, manufacturers and stores will be able to sell their current inventories of the older style heaters, and once those supplies are exhausted you will be out of luck.

I had a new Rheem water heater put in last June (40 gallon size) and it is their top of the line Platinum series and has an energy factor of .95 which would NOT meet the new requirements.

If your electric water heater is old or on its way out you may want to get a new one soon or you're going to be shocked at not only the limited choices, but also at both the prices of the new units as well as the increase in installation costs...
 
I

imaref

Active Member
Seems like you're right. I read the regs on the EPA site and they say .96, but the Rheem site you referenced says .95 - either way it's already installed and I won't have to worry about it for 20 years or so...
 
Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
ha!. Maybe that explains the hell I went through over the last several weeks trying to get a 75-gallon propane Rheem bought. Price and availability was changing almost daily...with price shooting up and availability disappearing.
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
the 40 gal I have now barely fit, I am going to have to put the WH outside at this point
 
M

MADPEBS1

Man, I'm still here !!!
This would / will suck in my house, no idea where i could put a bigger one... Got 5 years left before i sell, it's 20+, know i'm on borrowed time ;-((( So what does the USG say, oh well your going to have to remodel your house to fit in bigger tank UFB.
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
MADPEBS1 said:
This would / will suck in my house, no idea where i could put a bigger one... Got 5 years left before i sell, it's 20+, know i'm on borrowed time ;-((( So what does the USG say, oh well your going to have to remodel your house to fit in bigger tank UFB.
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Nope.. on demand is the way to go.. Small packaging.. less operating expense, and ENDLESS hot water..

And they are all VERY efficient.
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
kwillia said:
But what if you are all electric?
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That would be SHOCKING!!

But Taylor gas would install the Water Heater, the gas tank and the gas lines for you..

There are electric on demand heaters, but you'd more than likely have to run another 240v line to your water heater.. Still more efficient, and cheaper operating costs than tank type water heaters, but not as cheap or efficient as gas.

When you are at work, the house is empty, you're still paying to heat your water that's in your tank.. ALL day, all night.. 24/7.. ANY On Demand hot water heater would be more efficient than that.
 
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merc669

merc669

New Member
The new Gas On-Demand Water Heaters use no real power used until the demand is there and then the pilot is lit and the gas heats the water until no demand is sensed. Shuts off everything and waits. Pretty efficient. Spent a lot of time in Europe and Japan and they are used pretty much exclusively. Really nice to have a holiday shower and know you will not run out of hot water and then you get out and it shuts off. Like "itsbob" hinted at, no demand no power used. I am sure as was mentioned Taylor would be glad to do a estimate for you. I am sure initially there would be some cost. But after a period of time it would start paying for itself.
 
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Gilligan

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
The new 75-gal Rheem I just bought is for a small 9-room "motel-like" building and located in the middle of it all. No other options really....but boy am I glad I snagged one of the last non-compliant ones. Now I understand why the other options were easily a grand more expensive.
 
getbent

getbent

Thats how them b*tch's R
Had a plumber tell us the other day that he got something saying water heaters would be going up about 40%. If so, then I'll buy one now and put it aside until I need it.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
merc669 said:
The new Gas On-Demand Water Heaters use no real power used until the demand is there and then the pilot is lit and the gas heats the water until no demand is sensed. Shuts off everything and waits. Pretty efficient. Spent a lot of time in Europe and Japan and they are used pretty much exclusively. Really nice to have a holiday shower and know you will not run out of hot water and then you get out and it shuts off. Like "itsbob" hinted at, no demand no power used. I am sure as was mentioned Taylor would be glad to do a estimate for you. I am sure initially there would be some cost. But after a period of time it would start paying for itself.
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Oh yeah, to put in a I think 150lb tank and a line from outside to about five feet into the kitchen was I think $1200 dollars. We looked into it for a stove when we moved in a few years back. But we are looking at remodeling two baths. might be time to revisit. But I need to put in a filtration system first, no way is my water that leaves rings in the toilets and white crusts elsewhere going through tankless heaters.
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
glhs837 said:
Oh yeah, to put in a I think 150lb tank and a line from outside to about five feet into the kitchen was I think $1200 dollars. We looked into it for a stove when we moved in a few years back. But we are looking at remodeling two baths. might be time to revisit. But I need to put in a filtration system first, no way is my water that leaves rings in the toilets and white crusts elsewhere going through tankless heaters.
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We bought a fireplace from taylor and they installed the gas lines and tanks as part of thr purchase.. then we put in the water heater (not purchased from Taylor)
 
M

MADPEBS1

Man, I'm still here !!!
obviously will have to look into tankless when / if time comes.... I do own my own tank for fireplace. So question, can you put just ONE water heater into a house to supply both first and second floors? Live in a town home and space is at preminum
 
NorthBeachPerso

NorthBeachPerso

Honorary SMIB
MADPEBS1 said:
obviously will have to look into tankless when / if time comes.... I do own my own tank for fireplace. So question, can you put just ONE water heater into a house to supply both first and second floors? Live in a town home and space is at preminum
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Yes, unless the house is huge with multiple (meaning more than normal) usage points.
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
MADPEBS1 said:
obviously will have to look into tankless when / if time comes.... I do own my own tank for fireplace. So question, can you put just ONE water heater into a house to supply both first and second floors? Live in a town home and space is at preminum
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Yes.. tankless come in a lot of sizes.. ours is dual burner and rarely (if ever) have we had the second burner come on.. we can run all the showers, hot water in the sinks and fill up the garden tub with no issue (other than water pressure but that has nothing to do with the heater)
 
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