USA – The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute have released the monthly figures for the shipments of heating and cooling equipment in the US during the month of March. The general trend for the month, and indeed the year, is quite negative but the month did see an increase in the number of shipments of air conditioners and air-source heat pumps.

This month’s figures show that U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters for March 2016 decreased by 21.6% to 376,766 units, down on the 480,619 units shipped in March 2015. Similarly, residential electric storage water heater shipments also recorded a drop, falling by 26.7% in March 2016 to 342,669 units, down from the 467,617 units that had been shipped in March 2015.

So far in 2016, U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters have decreased by 15.3% to 1,083,761, compared to the 1,278,975 units shipped over the same period in 2015. The picture was similarly disappointing for residential electric storage water heaters with shipments decreasing by 22.6% for the year-to-date to 998,372 units, compared to the 1,290,055 units shipped during the same period in 2015.

The downward trend was maintained for commercial gas storage water heaters, whose shipments decreased 8.4% in March 2016 to 9,634 units, down on the 10,517 units shipped in March 2015. However, US shipments of commercial electric storage water heater showed a 15.8% increase in March 2016, rising to 10,445 units, up from the 9,020 units that had been shipped in March 2015.

This month’s figures meant that year-to-date U.S. shipments of commercial gas storage water heaters decreased by 8.6% to 25,421 units, in comparison with the 27,820 units that were shipped over the same period in 2015. Again, commercial electric storage water heaters provided some welcome good news, with year-to-date shipments increasing by 23.4% to 26,810 units, up from the 21,725 units shipped during the same period in 2015.

The data released by the AHRI also showed that U.S. shipments of gas warm air furnaces for March 2016 increased 0.4% to 228,343 units, a small increase on the 227,423 units shipped in March 2015. Conversely, oil warm air furnace shipments were down this month by 31.1% to 2,198 shipped, down from the 3,189 units shipped in March 2015.
The latest results mean that the year-to-date U.S. shipments of gas warm air furnaces increased by 3.1% to 616,990 units, compared to the 598,487 units shipped across the same period in 2015. March’s poor performance sees the year-to-date shipments of oil warm air furnaces drop by 5.7% to 8,086, compared to the 8,574 units shipped during the same period in 2015.

U.S. shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps reached a total of 720,084 units in March 2016, a 6.5% increase on the 676,010 units shipped in March 2015. Breaking this combined figure down reveals that U.S. shipments of air conditioners rose by 6.9% to 467,666 units, up from the 437,339 units shipped in March 2015, while U.S. shipments of air-source heat pumps increased by 5.8% to 252,418 units, up from the 238,671 units shipped in March 2015.

Thus far in 2016, combined shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps have decreased by 3.1% to 1,581,606 units, down on the 1,631,423 units shipped in March 2015. For central air conditioners, year-to-date shipments have decreased 2.0% to 1,000,663 units, down from the 1,021,179 units shipped over the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, 2016 heat pump shipments have seen a 4.8% drop to 580,943 units, down from the 610,244 units that were shipped during the same period in 2015.