ErP Directive 2009/125/EC, AN EPOCH-MAKING TURNING POINT

The ErP abbreviation, which stands for “Energy related Products”, identifies the Directive 2009/125/EC, aiming at reducing the energy consumption of the products through the eco-design. September 26, 2015, the date on which the ErP Directive came into force, represents an epoch-making turning point for the appliances producing central heating and domestic hot water. Since that date also a new energy labelling of the products has been implemented, recasting the corresponding Directive 2010/30/EU.



The rules foresee that all products for central heating and domestic hot water production, with nominal output lower than or the same as 70 kW, can be admitted on the market only if displaying an energy label showing the efficiency class. According to the different kinds of appliances/ technologies, different energy labels are foreseen, but all of them are rated through a graded colour scale identifying at a glance the different efficiency levels.

The labelling aims at giving the consumer the possibility to easily identify the efficiency level of a product and to compare homogeneously with each others the products that use the same technology. For those products whose efficiency is influenced by external weather conditions, like for instance the heat pumps, the efficiency level is reported for indicative temperature zones. Besides the product labels, the European rules foresee a system label in case of systems made of different appliances, components and relevant controls. This second type of labelling, thanks to the virtuous synergy among the different elements, gives the possibility to make systems able to reach even higher levels of efficiency than the relevant single appliances.

Since the same date, new requirements of seasonal efficiency have been set for appliances for central heating only and for combination appliances (central heating and domestic hot water production). These requirements concern products with nominal output lower than or the same as 400kW and prevent the entry on the market of the least efficient products. Also domestic hot water tanks have to meet new requirements in terms of thermal losses. The buffer tanks are rated according to their efficiency in terms of thermal losses too. For the domestic hot water tanks up to 500 litres, the labeling is mandatory; the ones from 500 to 2000 litres are bound to the respect of energy efficiency classification. Concerning the heat pumps for central heating and the mixed appliances, besides the seasonal efficiency limits, specific sound levels limits were set according to the output sizes. Also the gas water heaters, the wall- hung heat pumps for domestic hot water production and the solar thermal cylinders, in order to be admitted on the market, besides the energy labelling have to meet a series of requirements in terms of efficiency.

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