Ontario is planning to update energy and water efficiency regulations for many industry products, including water heaters, furnaces and boilers.
If the proposed changes to Ontario’s energy and water efficiency regulation are approved, the amendments would harmonize test methods, scope and/or efficiency with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) requirements.
The products affected include commercial gas-fired storage water heaters, residential gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, commercial gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, residential gas-fired furnaces, residential gas-fired boilers, commercial gas-fired boilers, commercial oil-fired boilers, gas fireplaces, and residential windows.
Currently, for residential duty commercial oil-fired water heaters, Ontario’s proposed compliance date based on the date of manufacturer is July 1, whereas NRCan’s date is Jan. 1. Also, Ontario’s standby loss equation for these boilers in watts differs from NRCan’s equation.
For gas-fired boilers, there will be no standing pilot for boilers greater than or equal to 88 kW and less than 732 kW and less than or equal to 732 kW.
Ontario and the U.S. DOE don’t set an upper limit in the scope for gas-fired boilers less than or equal to 732 kW. However, NRCan sets an upper limit of 10,000,000 Btu/h. Ontario doesn’t define an upper limit in the scope for oil-fired boilers greater than 732 kW.
Lastly, changes would clarify the scope and/or requirements for products, or update references to include the most relevant or most recent editions of test standards for products with no changes to existing efficiency requirements.
As of Nov. 19, the proposed amendments were posted on the Ontario Environmental Registry (ER) for a 59-day public review period – available at https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-0924.