AXAIR Climate has increased its product offering by signing a deal to distribute the Ability range of fan coils units. 

DANFOSS has increased its penetration into the heat pump market with the acquisition of Swiss company Steinmann Apparatebau AG. 

AS COMPANIES struggle to cope with low margins and strong competition, FETA is hold a series of free one-day Financial Awareness seminars in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow. 

JAPANESE air conditioining manufacturer Daikin is to buy the Malaysian company OYL, owners of McQuay, J&E Hall and AAF, for a massive £1.1bn. The acquisition will make Daikin the second largest air conditioning manufacturer in the world. 

THE Institute of Refrigeration is one of a number of industry bodies to have received energy efficiency funding from The Carbon Trust. The Cold Storage and Distributions Federation, the Building Controls Industry Association and the IoR all received £20,000 towards promoting energy efficiency and carbon emission reductions. 

NEIL Afram, the outgoing president of FETA, has hit out at the "green" pressure groups in his final address to the industry. 

THE new president of the ductwork contractors group ADCAS has slammed the Government over its failure to ban retentions. 

In the last article we looked at refrigeration cycles. We shall now move on to the key components of the vapour compression cycle starting with the heart of the system – the compressor. Refrigerant vapour compressors fall into five principal types:1.... 

We’ve said it before but how long will it be before China is no longer the home of cheap manufacturing? According to Business Week magazine, labour shortages in the land that once propelled human reproduction into the Guinness Book of Records are propelling wages to even greater heights. In some industries, wages are reported to have risen by 40% or more last year and staff are becoming more mobile and more choosy. 

HFCs join the fray as CO2 takes a bow at MAC summit 

With compulsory registration on its way, it’s time to look at what schemes are currently available and what’s to come 

David Bell, md of Estimation (right), explains how a combination of the right software and mobile technologies can bring efficiencies to service and maintenance work 

WHEN something goes wrong with the building services the usual course of action is to call in a service/contracting company with the necessary resources to fix the problem. If the equipment manufacturer or installer provides such a service under a warranty or service agreement, then this may be a satisfactory solution. The question that has to be raised in this scenario is how cost effective is it to have separate service agreements for each component within the building? Also, in older buildings tracing the OEM or installer can be a problem. The route that a number of companies are now taking is to appoint a specialist maintenance company. 

A round-up of supermarket news and gossip 

FETA president Neil Afram hit back at "green" criticisms of the EC's use of high level policy groups, claiming that the bodies are unbalanced dominated by industry, and, by including MEPs in their membership, threaten consitutional confusion. 

Process Packaged Water chillers range from 4.5kW to 180kW 

THE Government has again come under fire over retentions, this time from the new president of the ductwork contractors association ADCAS. 

COMPRESSOR manufacturer Bitzer has introduced a weekend emergency helpline for UK customers requiring spare parts or technical advice outside of normal weekly office hours.