In December, the entire Nordic Heat Pumps team came together for an end-of-year celebration, and we took a moment to reflect on what we have achieved in the past year. While we strive to set and hit milestones every year, we’ve never accomplished as much in 365 days before as we did in 2015. Keep reading to see some of our big wins in 2015 and future plans for 2016:
The Products
In 2015, our design department worked overtime to bring you three new products that you won’t find anywhere else in the HVAC industry. The first one is the air to water heat pump. This heat pump was developed in 2014 and released for sale in January 2015. This heat pump heats water up to 120°F (68°C) for hydronic in-floor heating and cools water for air conditioning via fan coils. Its also equipped with a desuperheater for domestic hot water preheating. This heat pump has proven to be a popular choice for energy-efficient in-floor heating without the expense of installing a geothermal ground loop.
We also launched our high-temperature heat pump this year. This heat pump takes clean liquid that has been preheated to between 50°F (10°C) and 122°F (50°C) and uses R134a refrigerant to boost the outgoing temperature to as high as 160°F (71°C). This heat pump is a popular choice for making domestic hot water in large buildings where the preheated incoming liquid comes from the indoor side of a geothermal heat pump and is an excellent tool for reducing the carbon footprint of schools, hotels, nursing homes and condo buildings.
Finally, we released an external desuperheater, or IFM Module. This nifty little unit is designed to be added to a mono-block air source heat pump. The IFM Module will use the heat pump’s discharge gas to preheat your domestic hot water while in heating mode. This inexpensive unit has become a popular choice for installers who prefer to use traditional air source heat pumps but want the efficiency of domestic hot water preheating (a feature that is not typically available in competing air source heat pumps, but comes as standard equipment with Nordic air source heat pumps).
The Press
We were proud to be recognized in the media in 2015 for our innovative geothermal and air source heat pumps. Proud Green Home shared the launch of our air to water heat pump with their readers, and Contracting Biz Magazine featured our water to air and water (TF Series) heat pump in their residential geothermal products tech update.
The Webinars
In May, we held our second annual new product sneak peek webinar where we gave our most valued customers an exclusive look at the new heat pumps we’ve been designing for release in 2015. We also hosted several events to improve the education around our air to water heat pump, including an Open House at our manufacturing plant in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick, and a webinar: A Practical Guide to the Air to Water Heat Pump. All of these events were well received and we’re looking forward to hosting more events in the future.
Looking Forward to 2016
2015 was a big year for Maritime Geothermal and represented a fundamental shift in our product offering with the addition of the air to water heat pump. But in 2016 we’re pushing the envelop even further:
The Products
Since the air to water heat pump is modeled after our existing water to water heat pump, it follows naturally to introduce air source versions of our other popular geothermal heat pumps including our water to air heat pump and our water to air and water heat pump. These two new air source heat pumps will be called the ATA Series and ATF Series, respectively, and will use the same All-weather Condensing Evaporator (ACE) unit to harvest heat from the outdoor air. We expect to release the air to air heat pump and the air to air and water heat pump this Spring.
Finally, our cascading water to water heat pump is in development. Using a standard geothermal ground loop, our cascading water to water heat pump delivers 160°F (70°C) hot water for high-temperature hydronic heating systems. We accomplished this by using a two-step system involving two refrigerant circuits and two compressors.
This heat pump would be ideally suited for homes retrofitting from hot water boilers, with hot water baseboard or hot water radiators. This heat pump could also be used as a stand-alone system for heating domestic hot water. This system will be available in the Fall of 2016.
The Tradeshows
If you’d like to meet us in person and see first-hand how our heat pumps are changing the HVAC industry landscape, visit us at the Canadian Mechanical and Plumbing Exposition in Toronto from March 16th to the 19th. We’ll be at the Metro Convention Centre, booth #919 and we’ll have our new products with us in the booth for you to review.
If you’re in Atlantic Canada, we’ll be exhibiting at the Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic & Technical Expo in Moncton on May 18th and 19th. We’d love to see you there!
The Webinars
We have big plans for more webinars and educational sessions on our heat pumps in 2016. If you want to stay in the loop about upcoming new product releases and education sessions, sign up for our newsletter on the left-hand side of this blog post.
The Team
Our long-time engineer Dan Rheault has traditionally called our Toronto office home. In 2015 he moved back to the east coast and joined our Marketing Manager Jordann Brown in our Halifax office where they work together to elevate our presence in this market.
The past twelve months have flown by. Our team has worked so hard to launch new products, increase understanding and education around heat pumps and energy efficiency, and produce the best quality Canadian heat pumps money can buy. I have no doubt that 2016 will be strong year for us.
I’d like to thank our team for the hard work they’ve put into elevating Nordic heat pumps to the next level, and I want to thank our many installers, dealers, homeowners and commercial building owners who have supported us over the years – your loyalty and business are valued.