HVAC Residential Market

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Due to its ability to fire at two distinct rates, this product provides energy-efficient heat that can effectively adjust to sudden high heat-loss conditions or economically maintain steady comfort levels. 

Just about every manufacturer recommends homeowners have their air-source heat pumps serviced twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. Most believe that semi-annual maintenance helps keep equipment operating at peak performance and ensures the unit is ready for the heat of summer or cold of winter.

When a couple of do-it-yourself (DIY) homeowners cited how easy it was to install their respective equipment themselves and how little skill was needed, it begged the question: With the current skilled labor shortage, are HVAC systems destined to become plug-and-play appliances?

Up until recently, sales of air-source heat pumps were on a tear, growing from 1.6 million units in 2009 to 2.3 million units in 2014, according to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI). But, in 2015, sales of heat pumps slipped 3.6 percent from the previous year.

Not that long ago, if a conversation centered on heat pumps, it was fairly safe to assume that the equipment referred to ducted, split-system, electric, air-source units. That assumption started to change a few years ago with the growing popularity of ductless heat pumps.

In 2007-2009, manufacturing job losses exceeded 2 million. And, despite adding more than 600,000 jobs since January 2010, the market has not fully recovered to its prerecession numbers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Industry shipment numbers are estimates that are derived from the best available figures supplied by a sample of AHRI member companies.