Rheem Water Heaters has announced that it will be returning to the AHR Expo^® after a two-year absence from this annual exposition of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) products. Rheem Water Heaters will join two sister divisions of the Rheem Manufacturing Company – Rheem Air Conditioning and Raypak – in mounting a 2,000-square-foot exhibit at AHR Expo 2004, which will be held on January 26-28 in Anaheim, California.

“Over the past several months, Rheem has unveiled a number of important new commercial and residential water heater products,” comments David R. Martin, vice president of marketing for the Water Heater Division. “We see the Anaheim exhibition as an excellent venue for telling our story to large numbers of distributor customers as well as installers, specifiers and other key buying influences.” 

Two new commercial water heaters will be in the spotlight at Rheem’s AHR Expo booth:
• Eclipse^™ Heavy Duty Commercial Electric Water Heater: Truly a first for the commercial water heater field, the new Eclipse offers a nonmetallic storage tank that has no need for the corrosion-fighting anode rods that are a must for conventional commercial water heaters, which use glass-lined steel storage tanks. With its scratch- and dent-resistant nonmetallic jacket and tank, Eclipse is only half as heavy as other water heaters in its class. This breakthrough product offers another important first for the commercial water heater field: a 10-year tank warranty – more than three times the duration of the three-year warranties carried by all other commercial water heaters.
• Xtreme^™ Heavy Duty Commercial Gas Water Heater: This powerhouse product, with a thermal efficiency rating of 80%, combines a compact 30-inch footprint with high gas inputs from 550,000 BTU/hour to 715,000 BTU/hour. The largest model delivers 756 gallons of 160° F water in the first hour, while needing only eight minutes to fully recover. That makes it ideal for any commercial application requiring large supplies of hot water fast with no interruptions. The comparatively small footprint and low-profile automatic flue damper enable the Xtreme to fit into the available space. Low-NOx models that meet California and Texas regulations are also available.

The AHR Expo is the largest and most comprehensive HVAC&R exposition in the world, attracting thousands of attendees from all levels of the distribution chain. The AHR Expo is also endorsed by 17 leading industry associations, including the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA); the Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI); and the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, Inc. (MCAA).

According to show management, more than 1,200 companies have already reserved space for the 2004 Expo, including approximately 300 co-exhibitors/cross-listings, with more companies joining daily.  With five months to go before the event, exhibit space is more than 80% sold, which surpasses the 239,000 square feet of space reserved for the last show in Anaheim in 1992.