Residential gas storage water heater shipments increased 5.2% in July to 333,499 units, up from 316,999 units in July 2025. The increase marked another positive month for the category following June's year-over-year gain.

Residential electric storage water heater shipments moved in the opposite direction. Manufacturers shipped 385,594 units in July, a 3.9% decrease from the 401,319 units shipped during the same month last year.

Combined, the two residential categories accounted for 719,093 units shipped during July.

Year-to-date Residential Shipments Remain Lower

Despite recent improvement in residential gas shipments, year-to-date figures continue to trail last year's pace.

Through July, manufacturers shipped 2,487,389 residential gas storage water heaters, down 2.5% from 2,550,303 during the first seven months of 2025. That represents approximately 62,900 fewer units than during the comparable period last year.

Image courtesy of AHRI. 

The year-to-date difference is larger for residential electric storage water heaters. Shipments totaled 2,877,192 units through July, a 5.2% decrease from 3,035,356 units during the same period in 2025. That amounts to approximately 158,200 fewer units shipped year over year.

Together, residential gas and electric storage shipments totaled approximately 5.36 million units through the first seven months of 2026, compared with approximately 5.59 million during the same period last year.

Commercial Shipments Decline in July

Commercial storage water heater shipments also declined slightly in July compared with the same month in 2025.

Commercial gas storage water heater shipments totaled 6,884 units, down 0.9% from 6,945 units in July 2025. Commercial electric storage shipments declined 1.3%, falling from 14,394 units last July to 14,203 units this year. While both categories declined during the month, their year-to-date results continue to differ.

Image courtesy of AHRI. 

Commercial gas storage water heater shipments reached 54,670 units through July, a 1.9% increase from the 53,651 units shipped during the same period last year. Commercial gas is the only one of the four water heater categories reported by AHRI to remain above its 2025 level through July.

Commercial electric storage water heater shipments totaled 99,392 units through the first seven months of the year, down 2% from 101,444 units during the same period in 2025.

The July figures leave three of the four categories tracked in AHRI's water heater shipment data below their 2025 year-to-date totals, even as residential gas shipments have recorded year-over-year improvement in recent months.

AHRI's monthly shipment reports include aggregated information supplied by member companies participating in its Statistics Program. The data represents shipments to customers within the 50 states and District of Columbia, including both domestically produced and imported equipment.

AHRI defines a shipment as occurring when a unit transfers ownership and notes that shipment data should not be interpreted as sales or installation data. The organization also cautions against using its shipment statistics to draw conclusions about market trends.