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I’m sure many of you have attended an AHR show. It is, by far, the biggest annual HVAC trade event in North America. A typical show has around 2,000 companies from the US, as well as many other countries, all displaying their products inside a massive expo facility (think acres rather than square feet), located in a major city.

Although admission to the AHR show is free - provided you register for a badge - the cost of attending the show is anything but free. Flights, hotels, meals, ground transportation, etc. all add up. These shows are also (understandably) crowded. You might end up standing in a lunch line for 30 minutes to pay $10+ for a lousy slice of pizza and a soda.

I’ve been to many AHR shows over the years. It’s possible to find almost any type of product related to HVAC, including boilers, heat pumps, piping components, electrical components, software, all types of tools, and the list goes on.

If you’re searching for a specific category of product, you’ll probably find several offerings, but only after wandering through droves of aisles full of products that you may not be interested in. This is just the reality of such a large and broadly scoped trade event.

Targeted technology

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a smaller event that focused specifically on the category of product you were interested in? Maybe that event would be in a smaller venue in an easily accessible and more affordable location. It would be attended by others with a mutual interest in that product category, professional peers who are often willing to share practical and valuable trade tips. The event would create a sense of camaraderie rather than competition.

Such an event took place on March 4th in Burlington, Vermont. It was the 2026 Air-to-Water Heat Pump Summit and Trade show, hosted by Efficiency Vermont, the Associated Builders and Contractors of NH/VT, and the Vermont Construction Academy.

The air-to-water heat pump summit was held on March 4th in Burlington, VT, and attended by over 120 people. Image courtesy of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

Planning for the event began in early 2025. The goal was to provide an opportunity for HVAC professionals to learn about the technical aspects of air-to-water heat pumps, and have plenty of face-to-face time with companies offering these units in North America.

I provided several technical training segments at the summit, starting with the basics:

• What’s an air-to-water heat pump?
• What “form factors” do these heat pumps come in?
• What are the thermal performance characteristics of air-to-water heat pumps?
• How are these systems sized?

Other training segments covered system installation details, chilled water cooling and a survey of several system configurations ranging from heating only solutions to those that can provide heating, domestic hot water, cooling, and integrated heat recovery ventilation.

Siggy provided three technical training segments during the summit. Image courtesy of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

At midday, a panel of contractors (each having experience with air-to-water heat pump systems) got an opportunity to advise the audience on what works and what to avoid: practical “peer-to-peer” advice that kept the audience very attentive.

Steve Spatz from Efficiency Vermont moderated a panel discussion of contractors experienced with air-to-water heat pump installation. Image courtesy of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

Seeing is believing

The event was held in a space normally used by the Associated Builders & Contractors of NH/VT, and the Vermont Construction Academy to teach framing carpentry. That space had several 240 VAC electrical service drops that enabled some of the sponsors to connect their heat pumps and run them by alternating heating and cooling containers of water.

Attendees who had never felt or listened to a modern air-to-water heat pump operate got to experience how they move heat, and how quietly they do so.

Some sponsors had working heat pump displays allowing attendees to feel and listen to the heat pump in operation. Image courtesy of Taylor Kristiansen.

Over the course of the day, each of the 14 sponsors had an opportunity to present to the audience about their products, how they go to market, and show examples of how their products were applied. Each sponsor had ten minutes to pitch their brands. You might call it “speed dating” for heat pumps…

The event was covered by the local ABC and NBC news channels. All who attended were provided with an excellent lunch and dinner. A post-event survey along with digital copies of the presentations was sent to each attendee.

Mission accomplished

This summit was carefully planned. The goal was to create an event that was packed with information, affordable, easily accessible, and able to bring together suppliers together with potential customers to develop trade relationships and accelerate the adoption of air-to-water heat pump systems.

Attendees listen closely to the contractor panel as they discussed how they’ve applied air-to-water heat pumps. Image courtesy of Vermont Energy Investment Corporation.

This event showed that interest in air-to-water heat pumps is strong, especially in the Northeast. The summit quickly sold out both in terms of sponsor and attendee capacity. Based on the positive feedback received at the end of the day the planning goals were met.

Ideas on how a future event of this type could be structured are already being discussed. I’ll be sure to keep you informed.