NEW EUROPEAN ENERGY EFFICIENCY REGULATIONS FOR REFRIGERATION AND HEATING EQUIPMENT
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Do air conditioners for cooling data centres (so-called close control units) fall under the rules and restrictions of the European ECODESIGN energy efficiency regulations?
No. The air cooling system of a data centre, in which indoor heat exchangers remove heat, is not intended for “maintaining a comfortable temperature inside an enclosed space, such as a building or parts thereof, for the thermal comfort of people”.
2. Is energy-using equipment connected to a solar panel system, disconnected from the grid and operating autonomously, excluded from the scope of the European ECODESIGN regulations?
No. The definition of air heating and cooling products does not exclude such equipment.
3. Do heat pumps integrated into air handling units fall within the scope of the European ECODESIGN regulations?
It depends on the intended use of the heat pump and how it is sold: it may be either in or out of scope.
If the heat pump is intended to heat a space for the thermal comfort of people, or if it is sold as such, it is in scope. Otherwise, it is not.
4. Some rooftop air conditioners have an air heater that uses gaseous fuel to assist with heating. Does this equipment fall under Regulation 2016/2281, and does the heat pump definition apply to it?
Yes. This equipment is within the scope of the regulation and falls under the definition of a heat pump. When sold as a single unit, the energy efficiency value must reflect the efficiency including the fossil-fuel heater. In the absence of a calculation method for heat pumps with a supplementary fossil-fuel heater, suppliers may use the methodology set out in EN 14825 for supplementary electric heaters, replacing the characteristics of the supplementary electric heater with those of the fossil-fuel heater.
The supplementary heater of the heat pump must be taken into account when measuring and calculating the rated heat output, seasonal space heating energy efficiency, sound power level and nitrogen oxide emissions.
5. If a process chiller cannot operate at the rating point for medium-temperature chillers (leaving water temperature −8 °C) under Regulation (EU) 2015/1095 but can operate in the 2 °C to 12 °C range, is it defined as a high-temperature process chiller under Regulation (EU) 2016/2281?
Yes. Such a chiller is considered a high-temperature process chiller and must meet the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2016/2281.
6. Many process chillers on the market are designed to operate between −7 °C and +7 °C. In some cases this equipment can reach −8 °C, which affects the reference and declared data, such as the rated cooling capacity. Since these chillers can reach −8 °C, should the manufacturer declare them as medium-temperature process chillers under Regulation 2015/1095 or as high-temperature process chillers under Regulation 2016/2281?
In such cases, the manufacturer is responsible for identifying and declaring the process and will declare the chiller type depending on the intended use and how it is sold.
7. Do chillers that use oil, polishing agents or water with special chemical additives instead of fresh water fall within the scope of the European energy efficiency regulations?
Yes. The regulation does not define a standardised process fluid. For process applications, a chiller operating with fluids other than water must meet the requirements of the European ECODESIGN regulations.
If the same process chiller can operate with different process fluids (for example water, brine or oil), the manufacturer must choose the process fluid with which the chiller is declared compliant.