DOE pushing wine chiller efficiency rules

Wine chillers are facing new regulations.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is moving forward with new rules for wine chillers and other beverage coolers that maintain temperatures higher than typical refrigerators.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy published the new test procedures in Monday’s edition of the Federal Register.

The temperature for wine chillers should be 55 degrees under the new rules, the DOE said.

Similar to those for refrigerators that are cooled to as low as 39 degrees, the test procedures for wine chillers would measure the “set-up, temperature control adjustment, volume measurements, energy use measurements, and calculations,” the agency said.

“These differences reflect the different consumer use for coolers as compared to refrigerators,” the Energy Department said.

The wine chiller efficiency standards go into effect on Aug. 17.