U.S. factory shipments of gas-fired, warm-air furnaces in August totaled 171,539, a 10.6-percent drop compared with the same month a year ago. Oil-fired, warm-air furnaces for the same month totaled 4,611, a 32.1-percent drop compared with August 2008 totals. Year-to-date, gas-furnace shipments totaled 1,228,454, a 14.3-percent drop compared with the same period last year. Oil-furnace shipments year-to-date totaled 26,137, a 21-percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Storage Water Heaters
Residential gas-water-heater shipments totaled 275,048, a 18.7-percent drop compared with shipments for the same month last year. Residential electric-water-heater shipments for August totaled 284,079, a 18.8-percent drop from the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, about 2,458,848 residential gas and 2,493,811 electric storage water heaters have been shipped, a 12.2-percent drop and a 14.5-percent drop compared with the same period a year ago.

Commercial gas-water-heater shipments for August totaled 5,447, down 41.1 percent compared with the same month last year, while commercial electric-water-heater shipments totaled 4,347, a 42-percent drop compared with the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, commercial electric-water-heater shipments (38,217) are down 22 percent from the same period last year (49,012). Commercial gas-water-heater shipments (51,301) for year-to-date are down 20.2 percent compared with the same period a year ago (64,301).
 
Central Air Conditioners and Air-Source Heat Pumps
Combined U.S. factory shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps for August totaled 466,770, down 14.2 percent compared with the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, combined shipments totaled 3,820,101, a 17.3-percent drop compared with the same period last year.

Heat-pump shipments for August totaled 130,303, down 16.2 percent from the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, heat-pump shipments totaled 1,204,227, a 14.8-percent drop compared with the same period last year.