ATLANTA — To say there was a lot going on at the Rheem Mfg. Co. booth is an understatement.

The company kicked off the AHR Expo with a press conference, where Chris Peel, president and CEO of Rheem, announced the company’s commitment to a sustainability platform — A Greater Degree of Good — as well as its 2025 sustainability commitments tied to ‘Designing for Zero Waste’ and its upcoming 100-year anniversary. Manufacturing products that demonstrate sustainability, decreased waste, and increased efficiency will become a stronger focus for Rheem.

“To coincide with our 100-year anniversary, we have set some very challenging sustainability goals for our teams around the world,” said Peel. “We all feel a shared responsibility to reduce the natural resources required to make and use our products, and we are excited about the opportunity to effect positive environmental change through these purposeful actions. By working together — Rheem associates, our contractors, and consumers — we will create a greater degree of good.”

Surrounding this centerpiece announcement, the Rheem booth was filled with its products and brands, displaying the latest in equipment offerings, design, and improvements. Each had its own story that employees and brand ambassadors shared with the public.

Raleigh Thompson, marketing manager for the Heat Transfer Products Group LLC (HTPG), explained that the new Department of Energy (DOE) regulations have many companies redesigning products.

“We have a new product, specifically meeting some of these demands, coming out this April,” said Thompson. “We’ve got a lot of regulations coming into play that will definitely influence how the products sell. We are aware of these regulations and want to partner with contractors to help educate their customers.”

In the Rheem Air Conditioning Division section of the booth, Erich Bauman, business development manager for Sure Comfort, reminded attendees that Rheem had other brands under its umbrella, like Ruud, Raypak, Russel, and more. In his update on the residential side of the business, Baumann explained that, as the company redesigned its entire residential platform since 2012, it produced the third brand in the company’s portfolio — Sure Comfort.

“This line brings in a different contractor base to compete with other similar brands,” he said. “The brand is targeted toward the middle and is positioned to compete with other manufacturers’ second brands.”

In other residential sectors, the company highlighted wall-mounted inverter-driven heat pump mini splits at the show. There was also a full line of cassettes and floor-mounted offerings, as well as a full line of low-profile ducted air handlers. According to Baumann, Rheem is now fully engaged in the mini spilt arena.

The Rheem Classic Plus Series Ultra Low NOx 80 percent AFUE R801T Upflow Gas Furnace meets all of the latest regulations in California.

Another product highlight mentioned was the EcoNet® platform. It uses the latest in sensor technology and is touted as the brains of Rheem smart air and water products.

“The EcoNet Smart Monitoring System is tying all the brands together,” said Baumann. “This control really gets us into the digital age. It is the expansion of communicating with our end user and our contractors via the EcoNet control.”

The Triton SS Premium line of commercial gas water heaters is an example of an EcoNet-enabled product.

“With EcoNet on this product, users can receive a message on their phone if the leak detector is activated,” said Stephen Mock, plumber support manager - southeast region, Rheem Water Heating. “They can then shut the unit off from anywhere in the world.”

On the Raypak Inc. side of the booth, Peachie Hytowitz, product manager for commercial products, was busy as attendees gathered to see what she called the concept car display of the future of Raypak.

“One of the trends of the industry is this movement toward more stainless steel heat exchangers and high-efficiency condensing heat exchangers,” she explained. “And so that product is there to represent the new look of Raypak and the product expansion that we are going to be doing in that market of stainless steel, high-efficiency condensing — both in watertube and firetube stainless steel heat exchangers.”

Publication date: 2/18/2019

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