Rinnai celebrates Senate vote
Peachtree City, Georgia-based Rinnai America Corporation, maker of tankless water heaters, has been facing a crisis in the form of a regulatory nightmare for at least the last two years.
But that nightmare appears to have ended with the passage of the bipartisan Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, SJ Res 4, which overturns a Department of Energy (DOE) rule that would have effectively banned non-condensing tankless water heaters.
The Senate vote is a significant victory for American jobs, consumers, and energy efficiency,” said Frank Windsor, president of Rinnai America Corporation, which had invested more than $70 million in a facility designed to build a product threatened by a regulation.
“We applaud the Senate for their leadership in safeguarding U.S. manufacturing and ensuring consumers continue to have access to affordable, energy-efficient products that reduce long-term costs,” Windsor said. “We remain committed to our investment in U.S. manufacturing and innovation.”
The scare for Rinnai came in the form of a proposed rule from the Department of Energy from back in the Biden Administration.
The DOE’s draft rule would have raised standards for tankless gas-fired water heaters to over 91 percent efficiency, while leaving the standards for tank gas-fired water heaters relatively untouched at 70 percent efficiency. While tankless water heaters are the more environmentally friendly option, Rinnai said, achieving 91 percent efficiency with non-condensing technology is technologically impossible.
Back in 2023, Windsor told HBSDealer: “It’s a head scratcher. Any decision that would eliminate a product category that lasts longer, is more efficient, is half the size of regular tank, and only makes hot water for you when you want it makes no sense to us at all.”
[Read the article based on the 2023 interview here.]
The DOE's proposed rule threatened to eliminate hundreds of jobs at Rinnai’s $70 million manufacturing facility in Griffin, Georgia. In a company announcement applauding the Senate vote, Rinnai offered its thanks to President Trump, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, as well as Georgia’s Democratic senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, among others.
Rinnai’s non-condensing tankless water heaters are up to 50% more energy-efficient than traditional storage tank models, providing significant savings for consumers. The DOE’s rule would have pushed consumers toward less efficient storage tanks, increasing costs. Had the rule remained, consumers would have faced a $665 price hike per unit, plus up to $1,000 in installation costs, resulting in an additional $235 million in costs to families, particularly impacting low-income households and seniors.
Rinnai America Corporation is a subsidiary of Rinnai Corporation in Nagoya, Japan.
