DOE has issued a pre-publication 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 30 days after the notice has been published in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the effective date.
• The final rule changes will be mandatory for consumer water heater testing starting 180 days after the notice has been published in the Federal Register and for residential-duty commercial water heater testing starting 360 days after the notice has been published in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the effective date. 
• The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in the rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register on 30 days after the notice has been published in the Federal Register. DOE will send a follow-up e-mail once the notice publishes to announce the effective date.

PETITION FOR RULEMAKING

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.

Commercial water heating equipment 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 431.110.

To determine that commercial water heating equipment that is currently manufactured or distributed into commerce is in compliance with DOE standards, manufacturers must follow the test procedure methods specified at 10 CFR 431.106.