China submits WTO/TBT notification of proposed revision of “Gas Storage Water Heater” national standard with higher energy efficiency requirement 
On August 31, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation of China issued a WTO/TBT notification of a proposed revision of the compulsory national standard (GB), “Gas Storage Water Heater” (2000 version, GB 18111-2000).
The notification will be open to comments for 60 days. The date of promulgation and implementation of the standard are “To be determined” at this time.
Here is an outline of the notification.
Changes to the scope
- The revised standard covers gas storage water heaters with a rated heat load of less than 100 kW, raised from 50 kW or less in the previous version.
- A provision that applies the GB to gas storage water heaters with a rated storage capacity of less than 500 liters has been added.
Addition of technical requirements for condensing water heaters (part of the requirements [5.5 of the GB] are shown here)
A condensing water heater shall be equipped with a condensate water collector and drain.
The inner diameter of the drain shall be 13 mm or greater.
Changes to the thermal efficiency standard
The standard for thermal efficiency has been revised as follows (6.8.1 of the GB).
Thermal efficiency calculated with low heat generation at the rated heat load.
| Revised | Current |
|---|---|
| Water heaters other than condensing water heaters: 78% or higher | 75% or higher (70% or higher when calculated with high heat generation) |
| Condensing water heaters: 94% or higher |
The original WTO/TBT notification of the revised “Gas Storage Water Heater” GB can be viewed at this link (in Simplified Chinese):
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/CHN/20_5198_00_x.pdf
For more information on the WTO/TBT notification (G/TBT/N/CHN/1457), please refer to the following link:
http://tbtims.wto.org/en/RegularNotifications/View/167394?FromAllNotifications=True
