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Tools were whirring at the Uponor booth throughout the AHR Expo, as Daniel Worm kept busy demonstrating the company’s new transition fittings. Booth visitors looked on as he expanded a plastic pipe and, using the newly launched Uponor ProPEX LF Brass Copper Press Adapters and the M18 ProPEX Expansion Tool from Milwaukee Tools, created a PEX-to-copper transition — without the use of a flame.

One of Trane’s missions is to reduce the energy intensity of the world, and the company believes that the way to do this is through education. Trane’s theme at this year’s AHR Expo was “Knowledge Becomes Power.” Scattered across the displays were attendees with headsets piped directly in to what the professionals had to teach.

John Murray, corporate sales manager at KeepRite Refrigeration, has a nickname for the new ESP+ Intuitive Evaporator Control Technology that his company rolled out at this year’s expo. He calls it the LED lightbulb of the refrigeration industry.

Johnson Controls Inc. had a big 2018, with the launch of several new products and the acquisition of Lux Products Corp. For Johnson Controls, the Lux acquisition enhances its commitment to thermostats. The move also enables faster product development cycles, improves customer service capabilities, and supports greater product innovation.

Exhibitors at the AHR Expo use a variety of enticements and tchotchkes to attract and keep attention, but the GE Appliances/Haier booth might have shown the most insight with what it decided to offer: a competition. The company brought its Haier ductless Easy Install Competition to the expo floor to support its belief that “installation is everything” for its contractor customers.

Fujitsu General America Inc. has gone from 300 to over 3,000 SKUs in its offerings on the unitary product ducted line in approximately one year.

Attendees who stopped by the Friedrich Air Conditioning Co. booth this year weren’t there for long, but that’s not because there was nothing to see. In fact, a plethora of new products were on display, and TJ Wheeler, vice president of marketing and product management for the company, was on hand to perform live demos. So why didn’t visitors spend more time in the booth? Well, they simply didn’t need to, thanks to the new FastPro™ system.

Every HVAC manufacturer, distributor, and contractor is aware of the growing labor shortage within the skilled trades industries. Most have been working to combat the shortage by getting creative in recruitment efforts — much like Daikin Applied did at the 2019 AHR Expo.

Daikin North America kicked off 2019 by highlighting new, advanced residential and commercial HVAC equipment at the AHR Expo.

At the AHR Expo, Carrier led off its booth display with the 3- to 6-ton WeatherMaker packaged rooftop unit (RTU) with EcoBlue technology, something that Mark Rabbia, product business manager, Carrier Commercial Systems, said sets the tone for Carrier’s upcoming product releases.