The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), Arlington, Va., has released its April heating and cooling equipment shipment data.

Warm Air Furnaces
US factory shipments of gas-fired, warm-air furnaces in April totaled 125,000, an 8.5 percent drop compared with the same month a year ago. See chart. For the year-to-date, gas furnace shipments totaled 543,338, an 18.3 percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Oil-fired, warm-air furnaces for the same month totaled 2,368, a 13.5 percent drop compared with April 2008 totals. Oil furnace shipments for the year-to-date totaled 12,356, a 25 percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Storage Water Heaters
Residential electric water heater shipments for April totaled 318,073, an 8.8 percent drop from the same month a year ago. Residential gas water heater shipments totaled 313,653, an 8.3 percent decrease compared with shipments for the same month last year. For the year-to-date, about 1,304,957 residential gas water heaters have been shipped, a 6.6 percent drop compared with the same period a year ago. For the year-to-date, about 1,284,056 residential electric storage water heaters have been shipped, a 10.1 percent drop compared to the same period last year. See chart.

Commercial gas water heater shipments for April totaled 6,442, dropping 20.8 percent compared with the same month last year, while commercial electric water heater shipments totaled 4,359 a 27.2 percent drop compared with the same month a year ago. For the year-to-date, commercial electric water heater shipments (19,559) are 16 percent behind total shipments of this product during the same period last year (23,297). Commercial gas water heater shipments (27,791) for the year-to-date are down 12.3 percent, compared with the same period a year ago (31,682).

Central Air Conditioners and Air-Source Heat Pumps Combined US factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for April totaled 410,932, down 23 percent compared with the same month a year ago. For the year-to-date, combined shipments totaled 1,366,249, down 24 percent compared with the same period last year. See charts.

Heat pump shipments for April totaled 129,264 down 16 percent from the same month a year ago. For the year-to-date, heat pump shipments totaled 484,867, a 19 percent drop compared with the same period last year.