Europe
Winners and Losers
A meeting of Fnas, the federation of merchants for the heating, plumbing, and air conditioning industries in France, discussed the relative progress in the various sectors over the last year and summarized results in terms of a ‘hit list’ of winners and losers - reported in the magazine Clima+confort. Best sales growth was for ‘thermodynamic’ (i.e. heat pump) hot water supply units at 54%, ...
LU-VE Now a Public Listed Company
Until recently still entirely in private hands Italian manufacturer LU-VE became a listed public company with its stock market launch in July. The aim is to finance the expansion of the company’s presence and activities in Italy as well as in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and China. New plants will be set up or existing facilities acquired in the program of expansion. In this deal the ...
Soler & Palau Buys Pluggit
One of the world’s leading suppliers of fans and ventilation system products Soler & Palau has now added German domestic ventilation specialist Pluggit to their portfolio giving them a base for the growing mechanical ventilation market in Germany. A recent development from Pluggit is an air purifier unit, the PluggVoxx, which it is claimed produces near clinically pure air. It uses a co...
Stiebel Eltron in France
According to the French subsidiary of German heat pump manufacturer Stiebel Eltron, the renovation market in France is not what it once was - a sector to be relied upon in times of recession. Buyers have become cautious and are adopting a ‘wait and see’ strategy before they make a decision. Sales have virtually stalled but by contrast there is a resurgence of interest in the new constructio...
War on Pirated Products
The German air conditioning and refrigeration industry is taking a stand against pirated products which are making an increasing impact of the industry in terms of reputation as well loss in revenue. Raids took place at the leading trade fairs ISH and Chillventa employing technical experts as well as customs officials and a number of fake products were seized. A compressor manufacturer Bitzer has ...
Energy Regulations Impact on Chiller Sizes
The effect of the 2012 building energy regulations in France has been to progressively change the demand mix for chillers - average size has shrunk by 30% over the last few years. By contrast sales in terms of numbers have started to increase, rising from 5,900 units in 2013 to 6,600 units in 2014 with 60% of the market made up of units rated 17.5 to 200 kW. The replacement of an increasing number...
Future for Hybrid Heat Pumps
The hybrid heat pump - which in effect combines a traditional gas-fired boiler with an electrically driven heat pump in a single casing - has made slow progress in Europe over the last two years selling less than 10,000 units. New designs which have simplified the control systems and reduced envelope size offer the prospects of renewed growth according to a report from Delta Energy and Environment...
Flammability and Refrigerants
The new generation of refrigerants which meet the demands of the Fgas regulations in terms of low global warming potential (GWP) fall into the ‘mildly flammable’ category. But in many countries the necessary changes to buildings codes and rules for fire protection are still not in place. This was the problem explored in a recent conference held in Italy at the Politecnico di Milano. Until building...
Danfoss delivers good half-year results
The Group results in the first half-year were in line with expectations. Net sales were up 14% and earnings were at level with the same period last year. - Wednesday, 19 August 2015 by Danfoss ...
Ostberg Fans
19 August 2015 Supply Air Ltd are exclusive UK distributors for leading Swedish fan manufacturer Ostberg AB. Leading Swedish fan manufacturer Ostberg AB have offered Supply Air Ltd exclusive UK...
