2025 AHR Expo Recap

Last month, the AHR Expo brought together more than 50,000 HVAC/R professionals in sunny Orlando, Florida for the largest industry event of year. As in many past years, the Marlo team was on hand to welcome visitors to our booth and show off our wide range of commercial and industrial coil products, as well as our MarloAIR air handling units (AHUs).

We had great conversations with many of our Independent Manufacturer’s Representatives (IMRs) from across the country, who we rely on to connect our products to contractors, building owners and facilities personnel who need them. We also appreciate the valuable feedback we receive from our IMRs, based on their day-to-day experiences in the field.

Leak Test #1A broad array of products on display

As usual, we had a range of Marlo heating and cooling coils on display in our booth, making it easy for us to explain each type of coil to show attendees, and point to out the unique features and advantages of each one. Some of the sample coils we featured in Orlando include:

Standard Steam Coils – for both comfort heating and industrial process heating, these steam coils featuring a straight-through steam path

Distributing Steam Coils – ideal for climates where temperatures fall near or below 32˚F, our tube-in-tube design virtually eliminates freezing

Water Coils – our popular hot water coils and chilled water coils, as well as those using glycol and other special fluid coils, can meet a wide variety of needs in a number of applications

Stratomizer® – our specially-designed dampered face and bypass coils, also called integral face and bypass (IFB) coils, can eliminate freezing and efficiently bring in fresh outdoor air in cold temperatures

Industrial Process Coils – for demanding industrial heating and cooling processes, these coils can be built with a range of heavy-duty materials, and often feature airtight housings to eliminate cross contamination of airstreams

Specialty Coils – while we didn’t have the space to display all of our specialty coils, we were able to show visitors our coils with removeable plugs and removeable box headers, allowing easy access to coil tubes for inspection and cleaning – for applications subject to sediment and other foreign materials

Refrigerant Coils – our direct expansion (DX) evaporator coils, as well as condenser coils, are available for a range of refrigerants to meet commercial/industrial cooling needs

MarloAIR Air Handling Unit – our modular, pre-engineered air handling units offer the benefits of an AHU that’s configured to meet specific needs, but without the long lead times and high costs that come with traditional custom units

Trends we’ve noticed about the show

We’ve been exhibiting and the AHR Expo for many years, and while much has stayed the same, some key differences have become apparent to us:

• Major U.S. manufacturers choosing not to exhibit
  Over the past couple of years, some of the largest HVAC manufacturers in the country (and the world) have decided to no longer exhibit at AHR. These are the companies that had previously occupied massive spaces on the show floor, showcasing multiple well-known brands. To say the least, their absence is very noticeable, and leads to the assumption that these companies can no longer justify the expenses based on their return on investment.
• Increase in “copycat” manufacturers
  Another trend that has continued in recent years is the growth of copycat HVAC suppliers, many of them new companies exhibiting for the first time – often promoting products and technology introduced by exhibitors at the previous year’s AHR Expo. We have spoken to other domestic manufacturers that have taken note of this trend, with many of them being very wary of displaying any proprietary technology at the show.
• Decrease in our target market booth traffic
  While overall reported attendance at AHR remains relatively constant, we have experienced a definite decline in traffic in our specific market space. By that we mean good conversations with people who are seriously interested in specifying, buying or selling (in the case of IMRs) our products. Part of this is understandable. In past years Marlo was still building our IMR network, and were actively recruiting new reps. However, with our current nationwide network of IMRs, which are effectively reaching their local customers, meeting people at AHR is just less important that it used to be.
• The show is too long
  We routinely see the vast majority of the customers we focus on in the first day or in the morning of day two. The remainder of the show is typically made up of booth visitors from companies that want to sell us raw materials and other products. While we always learn something from those trying to sell their wares, we have a well-developed supply chain and are not exhibiting in order to meet new vendors.

So, what does the future hold?

Adding up all the new trends we’ve experienced, we find ourselves questioning the value of exhibiting at AHR. With the costs of the show always increasing, for everything from the booth space itself, to booth materials, shipping, labor and other show services – not to mention travel expenses for multiple employees – being an exhibitor requires a significant investment.

In addition, one of our current goals is to focus more of our efforts on the needs of our IMRs, including a more directed effort to train and support them. We feel that diverting budget and resources to these efforts could very well produce a greater return on investment than continuing to be an exhibitor at AHR.

As we consider our options, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Whether you’re a current IMR or a user of Marlo products, please let us know what you think about the value of us having a booth at future AHR shows. Just send an email to [email protected]. We truly appreciate your feedback!