After years of consideration, DOE announced on January 17, 2025, that they would be withdrawing their proposed rule to increase the minimum energy efficiency performance standards for residential boilers. As it related to gas-fired hot water boilers, the Department had previously proposed, in August 2023, that these products meet or exceed an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) of 95%. This would have eliminated non-condensing boiler products from the U.S. boiler market.

While it is unknown exactly why DOE chose this course of action in the waning days of the Biden administration, the Department noted that they still agree with the intent of their proposal and were concerned they would not have sufficient time or resources to fully review the feedback they received from stakeholders relating to the proposed rule. In other words, there is a chance that this proposal may be coming back at some point in the future.

DOE’s proposal did not come without arguments from manufacturers and contractors alike. Chief among these arguments was that a condensing boiler, when installed into a boiler system that is not designed to provide return water at cool enough temperatures, would not condense, thus eliminating any supposed energy savings that may have been assumed by the Department.

Additionally, the proposal was also justified by DOE’s assumption that non-condensing and condensing gas-fired hot water boilers have roughly equal lifetimes. Our industry pushed back stating that this supposition was not accurate and that condensing boilers have a shorter, assumed lifetime.

DOE’s decision to withdraw this rule means that the Department would essentially have to start from scratch the next time they look to consider increasing efficiency standards for residential boiler products. In the meantime, existing minimum efficiency standards will remain in place leaving the U.S. residential boiler market unchanged for now.

If you have any questions about the information in this column, or any other issues related to legislative and regulatory measures impacting our industry, the Government and Regulatory Affairs team at Bradford White is here to help. Also, if you know of any legislative or regulatory activity in your community or state that would impact our industry, please do not hesitate to contact us at BWCGovReg@bradfordwhite.com.