AO Smith Upcoming Regulatory Changes

COMMERCIAL CHANGES 

On October 6, 2026, new DOE standards for commercial water heaters will take effect. This means that only high-efficiency condensing gas water heaters can be manufactured or imported. With A. O. Smith's market-leading Cyclone^® family and other condensing gas technologies, we are fully prepared to meet these regulations.

• Gas-fired Storage: Only Condensing gas water heaters with a minimum thermal efficiency of 95% will be compliant

• Gas-fired Instantaneous: Only condensing gas tankless with a minimum thermal efficiency of 96% will be compliant

• Residential Duty Commercial: Only condensing products with a minimum UEF of 0.9297 will be compliant

• Commercial Electric Products: Will not be affected

RESIDENTIAL CHANGES 

Starting May 6, 2029, new energy conservation standards from the Department of Energy (DOE) will impact residential water heaters. These changes include new efficiency requirements for electric and gas-fired storage residential water heaters. Rest assured, many of A. O. Smith's high-efficiency products, including our Voltex® Heat Pumps and Vertex® Gas models, are already compliant with these upcoming standards. 

• Electric Storage Water Heaters: A. O. Smith heaters over 35 gallons will require heat pump technology

• Electric Instantaneous Products: Will not be affected 

• Gas-fired Water Heaters: Will see incremental UEF updates