I began talking about the changes for water heaters last summer. Today (February 15th) marks 60 days until the new DOE efficiency standards go into effect on April 16, 2015. At that point, residential water heaters will change in size, design and most importantly, cost.

The supply house that I purchase my Bradford White water heaters from recently sent out an e-mail stating that the expected price increase for conventional water heaters would be 15%. For anything above 55 gallons for either gas or electric, the price increase will be significantly more. For gas water heaters, they will have to be a "power vent" model that comes with a blower and has to be vented with PVC pipe. For electric water heaters above 55 gallons, they will have to be a hybrid unit using heat pump technology. The "Rumor Control" has it that Bradford White may run out of the old style water heaters in March and at that point, switch production to the new mandated designs. 

To keep this brief, my advice is that if your water heater is 10 years old or older, consider replacing it now. I have customers that have water heaters jammed between furnaces and walls that are going to be in for a rude awakening when it comes time to replace those heaters if it has to be under the new design standards. Possible scenarios could be downsizing to a smaller water heater, relocating to another part of the house or switching to a tankless water heater. 

Javier and Lisa S. from Zionsville heeded my warning and replaced their old water heater recently. If they had waited, a new 40 gallon gas water heater would not have fit into the opening between the furnace and wall.