Abstract
Inefficient water heaters are being offered to unwitting consumers as a result of some
manufacturers' noncompliance. The usage of these inefficient water heaters adds to the burden
on the national grid in South Africa. Due to non-compliance of the manufacturers, inefficient
water heaters are sold to unknowing consumers. The use of these inefficient water heaters poses
an additional strain to the South African National grid.
The study is aimed to investigate ways of enforcing the current electric hot water heaters
regulations in South Africa in order to save electricity and to reduce the production of
greenhouse emissions and will introduce continuous energy efficiency improvements in the
appliances and equipment industry.
To gather comprehensive data on compliance and enforcement of hot water heaters in the South
African market, with an emphasis on the electrical type, a systematic review methodology was
used. Secondary data from the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS),
energy efficiency testing data from the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS),
Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) previous studies and guidelines, as well
as reports from the South African Energy Development (SANEDI) were amongst the collected
historical data on geyser compliance, offering insight into the research study.
The documents that were recognized as relevant for this research study included the number of
companies that applied for NRCS energy efficiency Letters of Authority (LOA) of electric hot
water heaters in the past and how many of those companies have been issued Letters of
Authority, compliant companies and non-compliant companies, SABS testing data which
included failure test reports and the causes of failures, Market surveillance inspection reports
from NRCS to see the compliance rate for the Inspected electric hot water heaters in the market,
and annual SANEDI and Department of Minerals Resources and Energy reports and guidelines
to see the impact of energy efficiency regulations of hot water heaters in South Africa as well
as determining challenges related to enforcement of regulatory requirements of water storage
tanks in the South African market. The collected data was robustly analysed and presented in
a form of graphs, tables and diagrams under chapter four of the research study using Microsoft
excess programme. The goal of (VC9006) Compulsory Specifications for water heaters to increase product energy
efficiency is partially being met, but it goes beyond what was originally intended. According
to the data obtained from the NRCS, more LOAs issued after 2018 were compliant with
common electrical hot water systems. This is also supported by the SABS testing data that
indicate a low failure rate to the class B requirement of tested samples since full enforcement
of VC 9006 in 2019. Therefore, it will be successful in lowering the need for electricity from
hot water storage units. However, the less-known technologies are also badly impacted by the
regulations.
The study has proven that the existing method of evaluating standing loss for electric hot water
heaters is effective in establishing the energy efficiency class of electric hot water heaters.
Regardless of the compliance levels of electric hot water heaters accomplished. This study has
also proven that the South African National Standard for electric water heaters (SANS) 151 is
effective in verifying the EE classes of electric hot water heaters, as some manufacturers rate
their products incorrectly. This study discovered that there are substantial issues that need to
be addressed, SANS 151 and compulsory specification VC 9006 inconsistencies, as well as
testing requirements of different types of hot water heaters to name a few.
It has also been discovered that current inspection model is generic with no targeted inspection
and sampling of product based on the level of risk or compliance concern. Due to this generic
inspection, market surveillance is currently inadequate in providing any data or assurance of
compliance of hot water heaters.
Keywords: Electricity consumption, Hot water heaters, VC 9006, Standing loss, Energy
efficiency, Global warming.