Electric Hot Water Cylinders
All electric storage water heaters must comply with minimum energy performance standards (MEPS).
The standard is AS/NZS 4692.1.2005, and is available on the Standards New Zealand website. This is a joint standard covering storage hot water cylinders except for those used in the dairy industry. The test standard is AS/NZS 4692.2:2005. However older standards NZS 4602:1988 and NZS 4606:1989 can be used for alternative test methods.
The following products are exempt from MEPS:
- Water heaters that use electric resistive heating to provide less than 50% of the energy supplied in a typical year (eg heat pump and solar water heaters). These must be tested to AS 4234, under Climate Zone 3, with an energy delivery of 22.5 MJ/day for an electric boosting element, and energisation profile specified by the manufacturer.
- Water heaters that are not intended for electric power grid connection (eg for use in vehicles and boats) are exempt from MEPS.
If a solar water heater or heat pump water heater supplier does not wish to provide the test results for AS 4234 then they must register the cylinder for MEPS.
Registration*
All types of electric hot water cylinders must be registered. This involves a submission of product testing and importer’s details, usually via the Australian Energy Rating website.
New Zealand shares many standards and a website with Australia. If models have already been registered in Australia then no registration is needed in New Zealand.
To check which cylinders are registered see Energy Rating Australia (click on ‘selecting an appliance’).
To register a product click on ‘registering a product’. Registering a product in New Zealand is slightly different to Australia as we charge no fee and do not require a sample test report.
* Although the term ‘registration’ is used here, the legal requirement in New Zealand is to ‘complete and submit the prescribed forms’. Requirements to register apply only to suppliers in Australia, but completing and submitting the forms on the online database at Energy Rating Australia to the New Zealand regulator fulfils requirements here.