March heating-and-cooling equipment sales dropped in the U.S. in March, according to the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).

Central Air Conditioners and Air-Source Heat Pumps: Combined shipments were 465,454, down 22% compared with the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, combined shipments totaled 955,317, down 24% compared with the same period last year. Heat pump shipments for March totaled 159,983, down 16% from the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, heat pump shipments totaled 355,603, a 20% drop compared with the same period last year.
 
Warm Air Furnaces: Shipments of gas-fired, warm-air furnaces totaled 160,339, a 20% drop compared with the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, gas furnace shipments totaled 418,338, a 20.8% drop compared with the same period last year. Oil-fired, warm-air furnaces for the same month totaled 3,337, a 20.3% drop compared with March 2008 totals. Oil furnace shipments for the year-to-date totaled 10,147, a 26% drop compared with the same period last year.

Storage Water Heaters: Residential electric water heater shipments for March totaled 331,751, a 12.7 percent drop from the same month a year ago. Residential gas water heater shipments totaled 347,852, a 9.8 percent decrease compared with shipments for the same month last year. For the year-to-date, about 991,304 residential gas water heaters have been shipped, a 6.1 percent drop compared with the same period a year ago.  For the year-to-date, about 965,983 residential electric storage water heaters have been shipped, a 10.6 percent drop compared to the same period last year. See chart.

Commercial gas water heater shipments for March totaled 8,119, dropping 6.2 percent compared with the same month last year, while commercial electric water heater shipments totaled 5,909, a 12.2 percent drop compared with the same month a year ago. For the year-to-date, commercial electric water heater shipments (15,200) are 12.2 percent behind total shipments of this product during the same period last year (17,313). Commercial gas water heater shipments (21,349) for the year-to-date are down 9.3 percent, compared with the same period a year ago (23,548).