AIR CONDITIONERS
“We go into homes that are one-hundred-and-some years old to maybe ten years old and put air conditioning in them.” Last year Boltz’s residential AC business was stimulated by tax credits and
rebates from utilities. “We do a lot of central air conditioning systems—totally new installs in
existing residences,”White said. In some cases,the residence has an oil-fired, warm air furnace,White said,“and we can put the air conditioning system right onto it.”And some installations are for houses that have a boiler, but no duct work—“and then we’ve got to go in and design a system.” Another development last year that stemmed from the availability of fed-
eral tax credits and the utility rebates,White said:“We were selling a lot of the wall-mounted air conditioning systems—the mini splits.”The units had the efficiency ratings to qualify for the federal tax credits,White pointed out. “They work pretty effectively for row houses.We’ll put in anywhere from two to four units in some cases because a row house may not lend itself to duct work.” Boltz worked largely with Fujitsu mini-split air conditioners, but such
units are made by a number of manufacturers,including Mitsubishi,Samsung and Sanyo. “Many of these units in the high efficiency models actually are heat
pumps,”White pointed out. But the outlook for air conditioning might not be as robust this year,
Trane XL20i Air Conditioner
White noted, as federal tax credits,“for the most part,”have been eliminated. Last year the break could total as much as $1,500,he said,but “this year about
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APRIL 2011 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
