It wasn’t too long ago that the only time people thought about the air they were breathing was when they wanted to light up their next cigarette, which they could do anywhere — in hospitals, on planes, at the grocery store. IAQ wasn’t even a thing. But that was then, and this is now.
Attendees who stopped by the Friedrich Air Conditioning Co. booth this year weren’t there for long, but that’s not because there was nothing to see. In fact, a plethora of new products were on display, and TJ Wheeler, vice president of marketing and product management for the company, was on hand to perform live demos. So why didn’t visitors spend more time in the booth? Well, they simply didn’t need to, thanks to the new FastPro™ system.
Every HVAC manufacturer, distributor, and contractor is aware of the growing labor shortage within the skilled trades industries. Most have been working to combat the shortage by getting creative in recruitment efforts — much like Daikin Applied did at the 2019 AHR Expo.
At the AHR Expo, Carrier led off its booth display with the 3- to 6-ton WeatherMaker packaged rooftop unit (RTU) with EcoBlue technology, something that Mark Rabbia, product business manager, Carrier Commercial Systems, said sets the tone for Carrier’s upcoming product releases.
From commercial chillers to residential IAQ, The NEWS covers hundreds of products each year, both in print and online. These are the Top 20 Products for 2018 based on the number of page views.
Demand for hydronic comfort solutions is heating up. According to a report by Technavio, the global market is expected to increase by more than 7 percent from 2018 to 2022, driven by a desire for more energy-efficient and energy-neutral technologies to improve the indoor climate. With more homeowners and building owners looking to advance the technologies in their structures to make them smarter, more efficient, or just more comfortable, it’s in a contractor’s best interest to become proficient in radiant heating and cooling systems to further expand their market — or, to dominate a niche market.
As HVAC products and home appliances get “smarter,” so too is the boiler — although perhaps with less flash and bang than the smart thermostat, smart doorbell, smartphone, or the new smart furniture that’s hitting the market. (Smart sofa, anyone? It’s a thing.)
From keeping up-to-date with technology to simply finding folks to lay the pipework, hydronics contractors face a unique subset of challenges within the HVAC industry. Learning to navigate the hurdles make the race to the bottom line smoother and much more profitable. The NEWS spoke with some industry experts to identify the top five challenges contractors face and the steps they should take to make sure nothing stands in their way when it comes to optimizing their workflow rate.
Packaged in a smaller box, the new design connects devices using less DIN rail space. It allows four interoperability functions that can be installed in one device.