The Dealer Design Awards are judged by 20 contractors from across the U.S. who are active in the industry and have their collective fingers on the pulse of what’s happening. This year’s competition saw numerous themes across each category, as manufacturers shared the broad goals of making products smarter, more consistent, and innovative in new and unique ways. 

The Dave Lennox Signature^® Collection SLP98V Gas Furnace is designed for residential applications, but may also be used in light commercial applications requiring 110,000 Btuh of heat or less. Its functionality and versatility helped Lennox Intl. Inc. take home the gold award in the HVAC High-Efficiency Residential Equipment category of the 2016 Dealer Design Awards.

Enertech Global LLC’s Element Series ZS/ZT Compact Horizontal Packaged Geothermal Heat Pump features a small footprint and enhanced serviceability, making it an ideal solution for both retrofit applications and new construction — and the judges first choice in the 2016 Dealer Design Awards’ HVAC Residential Equipment category.

Weil-McLain’s Evergreen® boiler offers many features that make it a favorite: 95 percent AFUE performance, a 10:1 turndown, control logic customization, and more. And the 2016 Dealer Design Awards judges agreed, naming it the gold winner in the contest’s HVAC Light Commercial category.

The Aaon LZ Series air- and evaporative-cooled condenser chiller and packaged outdoor mechanical room is designed to provide energy-efficient full- and part-load operation while being easy to configure, install, and maintain. The company’s focus on versatility and ease of installation helped the LZ Series earn gold in the Commercial HVAC Equipment category.

The winner of the 2016 gold award in the Dealer Design Awards (DDA) Refrigeration and Ice Machines category is JB Industries' F6 dual-piston refrigerant recovery unit. The F6 features a 1-horsepower (hp) motor, a dual-piston compressor, and a high-efficiency microchannel condenser, which helps it to quickly recover refrigerants.

The GPS-iClean's ease of installation as well as its nearly nonexistent maintenance requirements have earned it gold in the Indoor Air Quality category.

The 2016 Dealer Design Award gold-winning ventilation product, the Horizontal Mount Damper in Non-Concrete 2 Hour Fire Rated Barrier from Greenheck Fan Corp., was designed to protect duct penetrations and air-transfer openings going through horizontal non-concrete barriers. 

Variable-speed compressors and motor control drives that enable system manufacturers to achieve 25-plus SEER, 13-plus HSPF, and 29 IEER earned Emerson Climate Technologies Inc. the gold award in the Dealer Design Award’s (DDA’s) Components and Accessories category.

Since its August 2015 release, the iComfort^® S30 Smart Thermostat from Lennox Intl. Inc. has made a name for itself as a dealer-friendly product loaded with features both contractors and end users can enjoy. The thermostat’s attractive interface, installability, connectivity, and diagnostic abilities have earned it gold in the Residential Controls category.