Final regulation for ventilation fans entered into force 26 April 2011. The two tiers of minimum energy efficiency requirements will be effective on 1 January 2013 and 1 January 2015.

eceee welcomes the proposal for eco-design requirements for fans but cannot support the proposed requirements, which are too weak to achieve the potential savings of 2 TWh linked to this measure.

Requirements and scope

A fan is defined as a rotary bladed machine that is used to maintain a flow of a gas (typically air) and which is driven by an electric motor. The regulation has an extended product approach, including motor, drive and fan.

Fans that fall within the scope of the measurement include fans of power range 125 W to 500 kW. Fans that fall outside the scope are:

• Fans designed to operate with an electric motor below 125 W but driven by a motor above 125 W primarily serving other functionalities.
• Fans for vacuum cleaners (the 8000rpm criterion). These will be covered by future ecodesign measures.

Tier 1 will not be applicable to household appliances integrating fans (see Article 3 and 2 (point 19).

The proposed minimum energy performance requirements are specified in Annex I of the proposal.

Harmonization with ventilation products

The extended product approach is also applied to fans integrated in ventilation units; Lot 10 (residential ventilation and kitchen hoods) and ENTR Lot 6 (non-domestic ventilation).

A clarifying note from the Commission discusses the need of harmonized measurement standards and the merging of these product group into one single ecodesign regulation by 2015, at the time of revision of lot 11. Alternatively, the one single ecodesign regulation would cover all comprehensive building ventilations solutions and kitchen hoods (Lot 10 and 6).

Products & status