Residential cooling and heating equipment shipments still on the up.

U.S. factory shipments of both residential and commercial heating equipment increased, as well as the number of year-to-date air conditioner shipments from April, according to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute ( AHRI).

Residential Water Heaters

U.S. shipments of residential gas water heaters increased 11 percent, to 1,444,746 units, compared to 1,304,957 units shipped during the same period in 2009. Residential electric water heater shipments increased 4 percent year-to-date, to 1,333,790 units, compared to 1,284,056 units shipped during the same period 2009.

Commercial Water Heaters

Year-to-date U.S. shipments have also increased, with commercial gas water heaters increasing 4 percent, to 28,751 units, compared with 27,791 units shipped during the same period in 2009.  Year-to-date commercial electric water heater shipments increased 1 percent, to 19,731 units, up from 19,559 units shipped during the same time last year. 

Warm Air Furnaces

Again, the biggest increase was seen on the warm air side. U.S. shipments of gas warm air furnaces rose 21 percent, which grew from 543,338 units shipped during the same period in 2009 to 656,647 units in 2010. Year-to-date U.S. shipments of oil warm air furnaces increased 25 percent, to 15,486 units, compared with 12,356 units shipped during the previous year.

Central Air Conditioners and Air-Source Heat Pumps

Year-to-date combined shipments of residential central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps increased 12 percent, to 1,554,444 units, up from a revised total of 1,388,055 units shipped in April 2009. The year-to-date total for heat pump shipments increased 14 percent, to 556,387 units, up from a revised total of 491,193 units shipped during the same period last year. As for central air conditioners, the number of shipments also increased by 12 percent, to 998,057 units, up from a revised total of 896,862 units shipped during the same period in 2009.