DOE has issued a pre-publication Federal Register supplement notice of proposed rulemaking (SNOPR) pertaining to energy conservation standards for consumer water heaters. On July 28, 2023, DOE proposed amended standards for certain consumer water heaters, including circulating water heaters, along with supporting definitions. In this SNOPR DOE proposes to amend the definition for circulating water heaters and clarify that circulating water heaters would be subject to the proposed energy conservation standards for storage-type water heaters. DOE requests comment on these proposed definitions.

• DOE will accept comments, data, and information regarding this SNOPR until 14 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the closing date of the comment period.
• Interested persons may submit comments identified by docket number EERE–2017–BT– STD-0019, by email (ConsumerWaterHeaters2017STD0019@ee.doe.gov), Federal eRulemaking portal (http://www.regulations.gov).

DOE has published a Federal Register final rule incorporating by reference the latest version of the industry testing standard for consumer water heaters and residential-duty commercial water heaters and adopts relevant portions of those standards into the Federal test procedure. In this final rule, DOE is also expanding the scope of coverage of the test procedure to apply to certain consumer water heater designs (including circulating water heaters and low-temperature water heaters), adding definitions for certain specialty water heaters, updating test conditions and tolerance requirements to reduce burden, clarifying test set-up and installation methods, addressing the test conduct for products which can store water at temperatures above the delivery setpoint, establishing an effective volume calculation, and extending untested provisions to electric instantaneous water heaters.

• The effective date of this rule is July 21, 2023.
• The final rule changes will be mandatory for consumer water heater testing starting December 18, 2023 and for residential-duty commercial water heater testing June 17, 2024. 
• The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register on July 21, 2023.

For the latest information on the planned timing of future DOE regulatory milestones, see the current Office of Management and Budget Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. All planned dates are preliminary and subject to change.

Consumer water heaters manufactured and distributed in commerce, as defined by 42 U.S.C. 6291(16), must meet the energy conservation standards specified in the Code of Federal Regulations at 10 CFR 430.32(d).

To determine that consumer water heaters that are currently manufactured or distributed into commerce are in compliance with DOE standards, manufacturers must follow the test procedure methods specified at Appendix E to Subpart B of Part 430 – Uniform Test Method for Measuring the Energy Consumption of Water Heaters.