USA – The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) has today released the October 2015 U.S. heating and cooling equipment shipment data. The figures reveal that October was a mixed month in the market with fluctuating performances.

In terms of residential storage water heaters, U.S. shipments for residential gas storage water heaters in October 2015 decreased by 21.0% to 304,156 units, down on the 385,093 units that were shipped in October 2014. Similarly, residential electric storage water heater shipments dropped by 22.8% in October 2015 for a total of 302,199 units, down from the 391,317 units shipped in October 2014.

Despite the relatively poor performance in October, for the year-to-date, U.S. shipments of residential gas storage water heaters increased 0.8 % to 3,692,890, compared to the 3,664,101 units that were shipped over the same period in 2014. However, residential electric storage water heater shipments have decreased by 2.7% for the year-to-date, falling to 3,426,495 units, compared to 3,521,976 units shipped during the same period in 2014.

Commercial gas storage water heater shipments were also down in October 2015, decreasing by 1.3% to 7,471 units, down on the 7,569 units shipped in October 2014. Conversely, commercial electric storage water heater shipments increased by 22.0% in October 2015, giving a total of 7,925 units shipped, an improvement on the 6,498 units shipped in October 2014.

The year-to-date U.S. shipments of commercial gas storage water heaters recorded an increase of 3.4%, with 81,633 units shipped, compared with the 78,944 units that were shipped during the same period in 2014. More notably, year-to-date commercial electric storage water heater shipments increased by 16.9% to 72,438 units, a hike on the 61,976 units shipped during the same period in 2014.

The U.S. shipments of warm air furnaces for October 2015 were less encouraging as gas furnace shipments decreased by 1.6 % to 280,615 units, down on the 285,148 units shipped in October 2014, while oil warm air furnace shipments decreased by 1.0 % to 4,609 units in October 2015, down from 4,656 units shipped in October 2014.
Despite the slight setback in October, year-to-date U.S. shipments of gas warm air furnaces have increased 4.9% to 2,310,614 units, against the 2,203,327 units shipped over the same period in 2014. Similarly, year-to-date U.S. shipments of oil warm air furnaces have increased by 7.8 %, totalling 28,605 units compared with the 26,535 units that were shipped over the equivalent period in 2014.

October’s results for central Air Conditioners and Air-Source heat pumps were also disappointing, with U.S. shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps totalling 396,922 units in October 2015, 8.5 % down on the 433,643 units shipped in October 2014. This combined figure can be broken down further, with U.S. shipments of air conditioners decreased by 8.2 percent for a total of 257,477 units, down from the 280,524 units that were shipped in October 2014, while U.S. shipments of air-source heat pumps decreased 8.9 % to 139,445 units, down from the 153,119 units shipped in October last year.

Once more, the year-to-date combined shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps remained more positive, with 6,097,714 units shipped in 2015 compared to 6,033,336 units in October 2014, an increase of 1.1 %. This figure comprised an increase of 2.2% in the year-to-date shipments of central air conditioners, for a total of 4,082,457 units, up from the 3,993,768 units shipped during the same period in 2014. However, the year-to-date total for heat pump shipments decreased by 1.2%, with 2,015,257 units shipped this year compared to the 2,039,568 units shipped during the same period in 2014.