Heating installers affected by the new ErPD
Wed, Mar 18, 2015
This week OFTEC released a press release regarding the new EU energy efficiency regulations which will be coming into force in just over 6 months.
The heating oil trade association is advising installers to make sure they are well prepared for the new guidelines covering ‘production, testing and labelling of heating appliances’, otherwise risk legal action.
This new regulation, which will come into force from 26th September 2015, has been put into place by The Energy Related Products Directive (ErPD) and is aiming to improve the energy efficiency of domestic and commercial heating systems, reduce emissions and help users make more efficient buying decisions.
In order for manufacturers to gain a CE mark, they will need to meet minimum energy performance standards, nitrogen oxide and noise emissions on all products covered by the regulations. Furthermore, certain products will need to hold a label identifying its energy efficiency band. For heating, the band ranges from A++ to G for heating.
These new guidelines mean that when a heating system is fitted, it will now be the installer’s responsibility, when the sale is made, to calculate the energy efficiency of the system and to create a label for the customer to place somewhere on the installation
OFTEC have issued a statement explaining how they feel that installers need more advice and support to help them comply with this new regulation. OFTEC’s Technical Director Paul Rose has stated that “We fully endorse the new legislation which offers a good step forward in improving the energy efficiency of heating related products.
“However, the ErPD is a complex set of regulations which places the responsibility on technicians to correctly calculate the energy efficiency of heating systems they install using supporting information from manufactures known as ‘product fiche’.
“As part of our comprehensive support package for technicians, we are currently looking at ways to help registered technicians complete this process”
Many of our customers here at Centre Tank Services are heating installers, therefore we are in total support of OFTECs call for more help for those in the profession when dealing with the updates ErPD. Heating installers already have to comply with a large number of regulations regarding safe oil storage for those that carry out oil fired installations, and now there are additional regulation they must ensure they comply with when carrying out installations. It is vital that they are given the necessary support, and we hope that OFTEC’s call for some form of help tool is created in order to assist them in making sure this regulation is maintained.