HVAC Industry Insights – Q2 2025 Edition

1. Carrier Global Surpasses Q1 Expectations Amid Rising HVAC Demand

Carrier Global reported a robust first quarter in 2025, with adjusted earnings of $0.65 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations. The company attributes this success to increased demand for HVAC systems, driven by climate change concerns and stricter building regulations. Carrier has also raised its full-year earnings forecast, reflecting confidence in sustained growth. LINK

Further Reading:

• Reuters: Carrier Global beats quarterly profit estimate, raises 2025 forecast

• Investors.com: Comfort Systems Earnings: Analysts Expect 20% Premium To FIX Stock

2. EPA's 2025 Refrigerant Regulations Impact HVAC Costs

Starting January 1, 2025, the EPA mandates the use of low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants like R-32 and R-454B in new HVAC systems. This transition aims to reduce environmental impact but is expected to increase equipment costs by 25% due to new technologies and compliance requirements.

Further Reading:

• AirTekk Comfort Solutions: The HVAC Industry in 2025

• FOX 2 Detroit: 2025 brings big changes to air conditioning units

3. Comfort Systems USA Achieves Record Q1 Performance

Comfort Systems USA reported a 77% increase in adjusted earnings for Q1 2025, marking its most profitable quarter to date. The company's revenue rose by 18%, and its project backlog expanded significantly, indicating strong future performance despite economic uncertainties. Investor's Business Daily

Further Reading:

• Investors.com: Comfort Systems Earnings: Analysts Expect 20% Premium To FIX Stock

• Reuters: Carrier Global beats quarterly profit estimate, raises 2025 forecast

4. HVAC Zoning Systems Enhance Energy Efficiency and Comfort

HVAC zoning allows for individualized temperature control across different areas of a building, leading to increased energy efficiency and personalized comfort. By directing heating and cooling only where needed, zoning systems reduce energy waste and extend HVAC system lifespan. For more information on zoning solutions, visit Ecojay.Modern Comfort and Air

Further Reading:

• Modern Comfort Air: Top HVAC Trends to Watch for in 2025

• Aztil AC: Emerging HVAC Trends for 2025

5. Hybrid VRF Systems Revolutionize Commercial HVAC

Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems are gaining popularity in commercial HVAC applications due to their energy efficiency and flexibility. These systems use water in conjunction with refrigerant to manage building zones, making them ideal for diverse environments like schools, hotels, and office buildings.HVAC Informed

Further Reading:

• HVAC Informed: Revolutionizing Commercial HVAC With Hybrid VRF

• Mar-Hy Distributors: 2025 HVAC Tech Trends

Connect SmartZone to any old 24V damper: Wiring instructions & more

For most modern HVAC dampers in the marketplace, the wiring terminals are labeled in an intuitive way. In other words, the terminals have labels like “OPEN” , “CLOSE”, or “24V” . This kind of labeling was not always the norm, and just a few years ago, most damper motors were either 2-wire and had NO labels or they were “5 wire” and the terminal labels were “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” thus, requiring a manual to decipher.

We have gotten calls from customers about dozens of different damper terminal labeling schemes. While there is some consistency. This is NOT always the case.

Over the years, we have released many different wiring diagrams for many different dampers and here we are attempting to create a list of all the damper wiring information we have compiled over the years.

Please contact us if you have a different 24VAC damper than shown here and we will create instructions for any 24VAC controlled damper and post it here when complete.

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NOTE: The above is for a Power-Open/ Spring-Close Damper, see below for additional options.

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NOTE: The above is for a Power-Close / Spring-Open Damper. If you don’t know, you can try both of the above two methods for wiring your durozone damper.

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2-Wire / Spring Dampers

One style of damper that is not shown here are 2-wire zone dampers (spring dampers) that have motors that look something like below. They all have one thing in common that you could probably guess… two wires. These wires are often not labeled and it is because the polarity does not matter. It only matters that one of them goes to the “COM” damper terminal on SmartZone and the other goes to either “OPEN” or “CLOSE”. This will depend on whether they are “Power-Open” or “Power-Close”. These types of hvac zone damper motors are powered in only one direction and they “spring” back into the opposite position. So, if you have “Power-Open” dampers the other wire should be connected to the “OPEN” terminal of the zone panel and if “Power-Close” then connect to the “CLOSE” terminal of SmartZone.

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UPGRADE to better Damper Motors

Sale

M847 Actuator Upgrade KIT

from $19.99

We always recommend considering an upgrade to our Power-Open / Power-Close (3-wire) damper. This style of damper uses 1/10 the power of “spring” dampers and is MUCH more reliable. Spring dampers have a typically shorter lifespan than the Belimo 3 wire dampers we are selling. We have tested MANY damper motors over the years because we stand behind everything we sell it is important for us to carry and ONLY sell high quality products. This is why we DO not sell a direct replacement for this two wire motor but instead offer a way to upgrade to a MUCH better technology that will outlast the 2 wire replacement many times over. All at a cost that is almost the same. Take a look at the M847 shaft adapter and see if it or any of the others we have will allow you to upgrade.

Shaft Damper Adapter

from $24.99

Power Open/Close Motor

from $79.99

NEW Product: Stand Alone Damper Control using ANY Thermostat

Sometimes, full blown zone controls are not needed to solve an airflow or temperature related issue in the ducting of a home or other building.

One example might be a bonus room, a basement or a 3 season room that could benefit from some air occasionally but doesn’t necessitate a zone control system with all of the features included with our SmartZone products.

For these applications, we have developed a control board that can connect a thermostat directly to a damper for basic control.

With this Damper Direct Controller, you can simply connect any thermostat, a 24vac transformer & hook up your damper (ANY damper will work as long as it is 24V).

The applications for this product are too may to list but, for us, it is just one additional tool in the toolbox for managing comfort and efficiency of your home or building’s HVAC. Contact ecojay.com or us here at ZoningSupply if you have any questions or ideas.

Sale

Direct Damper Controller

Sale Price: $39.99 Original Price: $49.99

Home comfort hack: Could ZONE CONTROL improve your home's indoor climate?

Installing zone control in your home allows you to add thermostats to several areas (rooms) so temperature can be controlled throughout the house.  Most homes have only a single thermostat located in a "central" area.  This means the temperature of the whole house is determined at this one spot.  With zone control, temperature is measured and controlled in each zone for more comfort everywhere.

There are many reasons that zone control might be desirable (or even necessary). 

• Homes with two stories where the upstairs is regularly warmer than downstairs during the winter can benefit from zone control.  
• If a house has a fireplace that causes some areas of the home to get too cold when a fire is burning, zone control can help balance the temperature and keep those cold areas warm. 
• Bonus rooms or unused bedrooms can be turned off with zone control when not in use.
• Computer rooms or grow areas that need to be a different (more consistent) temperature than the rest of the house.

Zone control can balance temperatures to  create a comfortable living space throughout your home or create different temperatures throughout a building for varying needs.

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CLICK HERE to find out more about how HVAC Zone Control works and if it will work for you.

De-humidification and SmartZone - Zone 1 Thermostat Control

Although SmartZone does not have any built-in capabilities for controlling DE-humidification (DH) or Humidification, some applications are possible by using a thermostat on ZONE 1 that does have the capability to control DH.

“DE-humidification, in most residential systems, is simply running the equipment in COOLING with LOW speed fan instead of HI speed fan.”

Before we get to zoning, the equipment being used must have the capability to control humidity.  This usually means it has a terminal (DH/BK/DS) that is energized or DE-energized by a thermostat to control fan speed of the equipment.  Controlling fan speed allows the equipment to DE-humidify the air when the fan is running in low speed.

Back to zoning, using zone 1 thermostat to control DH is not as simple as wiring directly from the thermostat to the equipment.  PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS.  The equipment and the zone thermostats are running on different transformers and this will case problems and potentially damage to some components.  You could isolate the output from the thermostat with a relay to get around this issue of different transformers but you would still have an issue with this method of wiring "around" the zone controller.  The issue can arise when zone 1 calls for DH but the equipment is already running in heat, this mixed signal might just be ignored by the equipment but we cannot take that for granted... all equipment works differently.

The best way to control DH using SmartZone on single stage equipment is by using the method below.  It may seem a little UN-orthidoxed but it is a valid APP note from the engineer at Ecojay (It's intended to work this way).

1. Select a DH enabled thermostat of your choice
2. Connect Y2/ECO on SmartZone Zone 1 to Zone 1 Thermostat DH/DS/BK
3. Connect Y2 on SmartZone Equipment toEquipment DH/DS/BK
4. Set Zone 1 "STAT TYPE" to G2
5. Set DIP switch #4 to "LOCKOUT"

Zone 1 thermostat will now enable and disable DE-humidification any time the equipment is running in the cooling mode.
NOTE: When starting cooling from OFF state, 90 second delay will occur before HIGH speed fan will energize.

Using this method we are assuming that the equipment is expecting DS/BK/DH input terminal to be ENERGIZED for high speed fan and DE-ENERGIZED for low speed fan.  This method should not be used for more than 3 zones or with multi-stage compressor equipment.

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Sale

SmartZone-2X

Sale Price: $165.99 Original Price: $199.00

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This application will work with Ecojay's SmartZone-2X and SmartZone-4X.  Learn more

Click for SmartZone-2X/4X Install Guide

Need more than 40VA to power LOTs of dampers on one SmartZone?

Some systems with many small ducts leading to each zone can require lots of dampers.  The example below is a 2 zone system that requires 6 dampers per zone (12 total).  If you look at the zoning guide, you will find that you should budget for at least 55VA for this system... but you only have 40 VA transformers.  75 and 100 VA transformers can get VERY expensive!  Instead you can use two 40VA transformers, but not how you think.  It can be dangerous and unreliable to connect transformers in parallel to create ~80VA.  We recommend the method below that employs the use of a simple relay to separate half of the dampers to be powered from a second transformer and the other half being powered by the SmartZone and it's transformer.

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See the SmartZone Install Guide to calculate required VA.

It is always necessary to verify that the PRIMARY side power is sufficient to power the transformer connected.  A dedicated PRIMARY circuit is best but not always possible.  If sharing the 110V or 220V circuit, make sure the total power required for all devices connected (including zoning transformers) doesn't exceed the capacity of the circuit (usually 15 or 20 AMPS).

Where to get a relay?
Any 24V relay with a DPST or DPDT configuration will work.  The one pictured in the above diagram is available at ZoningSupply.com (see below).   If you are chosing your own relay, the "Contact" current rating will determine how many dampers can be connected.  (For example: A 10 Amp relay can handle up to 10 power open, power closed dampers)

24V Relay - DPDT

$14.99

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Power Open/Close Motor

from $79.99

w/ LEDs: Select w/ LEDs NOYES

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New & Improved Rectangle Dampers available at ZoningSupply.com

Tired of flimsy residential-grade rectangular dampers that easily bend and bind and, worse yet, stop working prematurely.  We, at ZoningSupply, are too!  And, we have the answer with this commercial-grade, super-duty rectangular damper.  Like all of our power dampers, it includes the best motor in the industry (Belimo) and now is constructed with heavy guage aluminim for rigidity and long-life.

Heavy-Duty

Rectangle Damper

Rectangular HVAC Dampers

from $199.99

6" X 6" thru 24" X 24"
SUPER Heavy-Duty
Aluminum rectangular damper w/ Ecojay by Belimo motor
Built to stand up to use and abuse

ATTENTION:

Due to delays receiving raw materials, the shipping time on these custom rectangular dampers has been extended: UP TO 3 or 4 WEEKS

We are very sorry about this delay and will be back to normal shipping times very soon! Please call us if you have any questions or concerns about your order.

DELIVERY TIME: UP TO 3 Weeks

(because they are custom made to order)
RETURNS for rectangular dampers require 20% restocking fee because they are custom made to order... please be sure you order the correct size.

NOTE: The motor will always be mounted on the “HEIGHT” side

Height: Select Height 06081012141618202224

Width: Select Width 06081012141618202224

Quantity:

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No other rectangle zone damper on the market is as sturdy or reliable.  Simplicity of design and precision manufacturing in the USA (Ohio & Texas) make for the BEST rectangular damper that has ever been available to the residential zone control market.  Try it for yourself today.

Get SmartZone at ZoningSupply.com

See why SmartZone is the best zone controller on the market.

ZoningSupply.com for all your zone control and damper products at the best prices with FREE shipping.

NEW to ZoningSupply - Insertable (Retrofit) Dampers

We are proud to announce the continuation of our damper product line here at ZoningSupply.com with the "Insert-able" damper.

Some applications call for dampers that can be "slipped" into round duct that is spiral or other hard pipe style duct.  This is not intended for use with flex-duct but can be used with any other type of hard duct.  Simply cut a slit in the duct, insert the damper and screw it down.

PRO-Grade Insert Zone Damper (Retrofit)

from $59.99

Industry-leading quality & highest reliability, Belimo Motor, Full-seal gasket blade, makes mounting in any round duct easy with these super-heavy duty retro-fit slip-in dampers

4", 5", 6", 7", 8", 9", 10" ROUND Diameter Dampers

12” & 14” Diameter insert dampers require additional hole to be drilled in duct opposite damper. (grommet included to insert shaft)

Motor: Select Motor YES MotorNO Motor

Diameter: Select Diameter 4"5"6"7"8"9"10"12"14"

Quantity:

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For more dampers from ZoningSupply click here

Spring is HVAC maintenance season... think about Zone Control.

With warmer weather approaching, upstairs or certain areas of your home can become uncomfortably warm without SmartZone. HVAC zone control can make the entire home more comfortable in the hottest Summer months. 

Most homes with a single thermostat have some issues with keeping everyone, everywhere in the house comfortable.  With SmartZone, thermostats are places throughout the home to achieve comfort everywhere... and if you choose to turn off some of the areas (zones), you can even save energy.  Most importantly, however, SmartZone can make your home more comfortable than it is now.  See the slides below for how it works.

How it works...

1. SmartZone is connected to several Thermostats placed in "zones" throughout the home or building.
2. SmartZone is connected to the Air Conditioning (AC) and Heating equipment.
3. Dampers (air valves) are installed in the existing ducts that connect to room vents in the "zones."
4. SmartZone controls the AC & Heating equipment AND opens/closes dampers to control air to the zones based on the thermostats.

There is obviously a lot more to HVAC Zone control than the above bullet points.  Bypass & static pressure, duct sizing & damper leakage, thermostat & equipment types, equipment modes & changeover, compressor staging, emergency & auxiliary heat... and much more.  The good news is that SmartZone takes the guess work out of the potential complications of zoning.  Check out more about why SmartZone is the best choice here.

More unbiased Zone control discusson on homeenergy

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QUESSTION by Adam Zielinski

Homeowners with forced air duct systems always want to close the registers in rooms they aren't using, and close the doors to those rooms, in the belief that doing so will save energy and money.
I always thought doing this was over-rated and unlikely to save a significant amount of energy or money.  I could see doing it for one or two rooms perhaps, but sometimes homeowners close off half of their house or more.
This creates unbalanced air flow in the duct system and likely results in over heating the furnace heat exchanger, and or short cycling the furnace.  So the furnace spends a lot of time in start up mode and less time at peak efficiency.
I have not seen any real studies done on this however.  I'd like to see some data or research on this.

Reply by dale conner
Adam, most furnaces will move the proper amount of air through the blower and heat exchanger if the furnace cabinet pressure doesnt exceed .5 IWC and the furnace capacity was chosen based on a manual J calculation. This information can be found in the furnace installation manual or IOM (installation,operation,maintenance) that comes with a new furnace. However, this does not mean we are getting adequate air delivery to all of the rooms in the house due to excessive air leakage in the ducts and/or incorrect duct lengths or diameters routed to each room.

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QUESTION by Judi Lyall

How about using a motorized damper ?

Reply by dale conner
A single motorized damper can be used to control a zoned area but you also have to install a barometric by-pass damper to prevent over pressurization www.zoningsupply.com

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See full discussion: http://homeenergypros.lbl.gov/group/hvac/forum/topic/show?id=6069565%3ATopic%3A7207

Honest discussion on homeenergypros about zoning advantages.

Are Zoned Heating/Cooling Systems a Good or Bad Idea?

Excerpt from homeenergypros discussion about HVAC Zone controls.

QUESTION by Jon LaMonte

For starters, I live in Atlanta, Ga and I am not an HVAC pro so this is a serious question that I would like answered for one of my clients.  I understand the premise of a zoned system and on the surface, it sounds like a good idea. Then I considered the fact that I have always told my customers that it is a bad idea to close off vents in rooms they are not in because of duct leakage.  Also, the second law of thermodynamics simply states the hot goes to cold, so now the unheated areas are doing their best to rob warm air from the heated areas.  Finally, if your zoning a single system, aren't you creating on oversizing issue because the unit (that was probably oversized in the first place) is now servicing a smaller area than what it was designed for?

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Reply1 by Chris Heenan

Zoning has benefits beyond temp control. Most often the home does not require the full 2 stage heat or cooling as the system only needs to satisfy a portion of the home. So, then if 1/2 the heated air goes through a properly sized and balance bypass, the return air (from home) will mix with warm supply (from bypass) before going thru the system again. You may not need to go beyond 1stage heat (or cool) except in extremes. This is most beneficial in raising supply temps from heat pumps when in winter mode. Most supply vents feel 'cool' to homeowner. Not so when zoned and not call on all zones.

Flip it to cool, and the bypass send dehumidified cooler air across the coil. Decreasing high side pressures and amp draw of compressor. Then the air gets more heat extracted and further dehumidified. Pulling out additional condensate and running less. Remember systems have to be careful not to oversize as dehumidification is crucial to comfort. Dry and cool temps out supply vent. Not too shabby.

Reply2 by dale conner

Zone sytems are rarely installed properly but can be efficient if properly designed. The goal is to be able to set back the temperature a few degrees in a zone that isnt being utilized while keeping another zone comfortable that is being utilized.  A single unit with a zone system will have a by-pass duct sytem to dump the air thats been cut off from one zone back into the duct system to be used in the zone that is being used.

*Reply3 by James Jackson on

Have you ever been driving down the interstate hwy and come up on an exit ramp that has traffic backed up? As the traffic backs up and eventually fills the exit with cars you end up with a slight back up on the entire highway. this is the closest scenario i have been able to come up to help people understand why closing doors and vents is a bad idea. if you have a run off of a main trunk and you close the outlet or register you will cause the air to back up into the trunk causing turbulence in the trunk line resulting in a decrease in air flow in other areas on the system. this can also cause multiple other problems like pulsing and excessive noise from the increase in pressure.

another thing to remember when you shut doors in a home with no return air you cause a difference in pressure in the home. The room you have closed is now significantly positively pressurized and the house is now under a negative pressure. This why some homes have the doors undercut by 3-4 inches trying to allow the air to get back to the return.

Ok as far as the zone system goes... There is so much more thought involved in properly setting up a quality zone system that i see very few done correctly. If you want to do one correctly you first need to make sure you are using a multi-stage HVAC unit so the unit can run on low speed if it is only conditioning one zone. A bypass or crossover duct with a barometric damper is needed if you are conditioning a small zone and the air handler is still supplying too much air, but if you are going the zone route don’t use contractor grade units and piece it together with a simple zone controller. Get a high efficiency v speed unit that is designed for this application.

But what happens when you change the temps in a zone in the house 4-5 degrees?? Energy moves from hot to cold so you end up indirectly heating or cooling the entire space regardless. This brings us to another scenario. The return air in the zone that is off. My experience with working on correcting issues with homes using zone systems has been the returns are never dampered so if the zone is completely shut off you have just installed a permanent blower door. if the zone is off one you are returning hotter or colder air to the system and two you are causing that zone to have a negative pressure.

Just some things to think about !!

Learn more at www.zoningsupply.com

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BETTER with Zoning done right!

Single thermostat can have issues

My editorial conclusion:
Zoning CAN be effective if and ONLY if it's designed and installed properly.  This means ducts, dampers, equipment size (tons).  It also means the right zone panel setup with energy saving features like SmartZone.  Finally, to make zoning work best and comfort control and energy savings, the home owner must properly control the thermostats.  Zoning isn't a "set-it-and-forget-it" system, it must be managed to be effective.  More articles about zoning

See full discussion: http://homeenergypros.lbl.gov/group/hvac/forum/topic/show?id=6069565%3ATopic%3A7207

Honeywell TrueZone ARD Dampers wiring to SmartZone

The latest form Honeywell ARD dampers is a nice looking product and works nicely with ecojay SmartZone.  Wire as shown below.  Other damper wiring at www.zoningsupply.com/blog

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Sale

SmartZone-4X

Sale Price: $239.99 Original Price: $299.00

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PRO-Grade Power Zone Damper (Round)

from $69.99

Motor: Select Motor YES MotorNO Motor

Diameter: Select Diameter 4"5"6"7"8"9"10"12"14"16"18"

Quantity:

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SmartZone has the simplest setup and best features of any zone control. Find out more about SmartZone and why it's the smart choice: www.zoningsupply.com/buy-smartzone/

Best damper motor (actuator) on the market... we tested them all.

Well, maybe not technically ALL of them but dozens and even more than in this photo.

We narrowed down by specs that would work for us first.  Between 30 and 60 second travel time, 90 deg rotation, at least 1.5nM torque, lower than 3.5VA power consumption, 24Vac operation, clutch free movement, minimum open/close, range of 3/8" to 1/2" shaft and more.  Once we narrowed down to here we still had about 6 or 8 motors and we tested the top 5 for full 10 year accelerated life and field testing.  Some we even used in production for a while.  We are now confident when we proclaim that the Belimo motor that is made for ecojay and we sell with SmartZone wins in all categories... reliability, noise & installation/setup.

PRO-Grade Power Zone Damper (Round)

from $69.99

Motor: Select Motor YES MotorNO Motor

Diameter: Select Diameter 4"5"6"7"8"9"10"12"14"16"18"

Quantity:

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Power Open/Close Motor

from $79.99

w/ LEDs: Select w/ LEDs NOYES

Quantity:

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Replacing old 2-wire spring damper with a high quality ecojay damper

UPDATE: March 2017 - NEW Dampers available now.  TAKE-OFF ROUND, INSERT ROUND & RECTANGLE Dampers all available now ... scroll down to see all damper models. OR click here.

Some older zone control panels have only two connectors for damper wiring (common & power-close).  These were designed when predominately 2-wire (spring open) dampers were used for zoning.  In recent years, 3-wire (power-open, power-close) dampers have become more common because of their low power consumption and higher reliability.  You might think you have to upgrade your zoning panel to accommodate for these preferable 3-wire dampers... not with Ecojay dampers and belimo actuators.  The wiring diagram below shows how to connect the Ecojay Power Damper to an older zone panel that is only designed to work with 2-wire dampers.

If you are planing to replace the zone controller with SmartZone, this diagram is NOT necessary.

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If you have any questions, call or email us.