Rinnai America Corporation, the number one selling brand of tankless water heaters in North America, calls on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to revise its proposed efficiency standards for tankless water heaters. In its current form, the draft rule will unreasonably restrict consumer access to certain tankless water heater products, disproportionately impacting middle-income households Read more
Frank Windsor
Rinnai America Corporation, the number one selling brand of tankless water heaters in North America, calls on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to revise its proposed efficiency standards for tankless water heaters. In its current form, the draft rule will unreasonably restrict consumer access to certain tankless water heater products, disproportionately impacting middle-income households and small businesses.
The draft rule would raise standards for tankless gas-fired water heaters to over 91 percent efficiency, while leaving the standards for tank gas-fired water heaters relatively untouched at 70 percent efficiency. While tankless water heaters are the more environmentally friendly option, achieving 91 percent efficiency with non-condensing technology is technologically impossible.
“As currently drafted, DOE’s proposed rule will create an uneven market that effectively bans an already energy efficient product and puts American jobs at risk,” said Frank Windsor, president of Rinnai America Corporation. “Consumers who rely on access to tankless water heaters will see their options limited, resulting in higher energy bills and shorter appliance lifespans, while the very environmental goals prompting this rule will go unfulfilled. We urge DOE to re-consider this untenable rule for standards that better protect American consumers and drive our energy efficiency goals forward.”
Members of the public who wish to submit a comment on the draft rule to DOE or their representative in Congress rule may do so HERE.
Rinnai America Corporation employs over 600 people across the United States at its headquarters, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers. In the last five years, Rinnai has invested more than $100 million as part of its commitment to developing a strong domestic manufacturing base to serve the North American market.
For more information on Rinnai and its portfolio of products, visit www.rinnai.us.
The Grand Opening of Rinnai’s RAM Lakes Facility in Griffin, Ga., featured the first non-condensing tankless—the first of many salable units— manufactured here in the states. At approximately 6:15 am on a crisp Tuesday morning, Rinnai America Corporation made history in the United States, and all of North America. At its new 300,000-sq.-ft RAM (Rinnai Read more
The Grand Opening of Rinnai’s RAM Lakes Facility in Griffin, Ga., featured the first non-condensing tankless—the first of many salable units— manufactured here in the states.
President, Rinnai America Corporation, Frank Windsor puts his John Hancock on the first unit manufactured at the RAM Lakes facility in Griffin, Ga.
At approximately 6:15 am on a crisp Tuesday morning, Rinnai America Corporation made history in the United States, and all of North America. At its new 300,000-sq.-ft RAM (Rinnai America Manufacturing) Lakes facility in Griffin, Ga., the first—of many non-condensing tankless water heaters—rolled off the line. On April 21, 2022, the Griffin facility completed the production of its first tankless water heater, a unit of the highly anticipated RE Series, the first and only non-condensing unit with a built-in pump and SmartCirc intelligent recirculation technology.
“This is a significant milestone for our company and corporation. We are here to celebrate not only becoming the first major tankless manufacturer in the North American market to invest in domestic manufacturing,” said Frank Windsor, President, Rinnai America Corporation. “But we are also launching a brand-new product here today, which will become a really compelling product we bring to market.”
On April 21, 2022, Rinnai held a festive Grand Opening at its RAM Lakes facility.
“This morning, the first RE Series tankless water heater came off the end of the line,” said Shelley Kiley, Vice President of Operations. “The day has arrived that we are going to produce our first salable RE Series tankless hot water heater and we are so excited. Over the last two years, it’s been a challenge for the entire team. They worked tirelessly through a lot of challenges, obviously covid, global supply chain issues, escalation of pricing of materials for the construction of this and I would say that the whole team is really proud that they came within 4% of budget and only six weeks of delay on the entire project from start to finish,” said Kiley.
Throughout the new facility, Rinnai definitely puts its money where its mouth is as you’ll find fully operational tankless units humming beautifully throughout, like this SENSEI RSC199iN.
In 2017, the global organization recognized the significant potential for this market and made the decision to invest in Rinnai America to become a growth vehicle for the corporation. According to Windsor, this has been a substantial investment over the last three or four years—a new corporate headquarters in Peachtree City, which was an $18 million dollar investment, a $10 million investment in our new world class innovation center attached to our headquarters in Peachtree City, along with this manufacturing and distribution center, which was a $70 million investment.
Perhaps supply chain issues have been alleviated with manufacturing in the states. Here, in the 140,000-sq.-ft. distribution center, the inventory is aplenty with tankless units produced at the RAM Lakes facility.
Over the last four years, the company has invested $100 million to show its commitment to the North American market. “In 2020, amidst all of the chaos associated with the pandemic, our company chose to move forward and invest, break ground on the facility we are standing in today. I’m very proud of the hard work and dedication our team has put forth in this initiative, which is critical for our organization’s future growth and success,” said Windsor.
With a goal of 400 units manufactured per line, at the time of the Grand Opening celebration, one line was up and running with a projected three lines running by summer. In addition, the RAM Lakes facility has already employed more than a hundred of the new local top talent with a projected few hundred additional jobs to be added by the end of the year.
Exporting tankless. What a concept. How cool is that? “It is cool. We will be shipping them to Mexico and shipping them throughout Latin America. We have a fast-growing Latin American business. It’s fun to be able to make product here in the U.S. and ship to other parts of the world,” said Windsor.
Tanika Peoples, Senior Human Resources Generalist, talks about Rinnai’s core values at the new facility.
Moreover, with all of the supply chain issues and complexities, having manufacturing here in the states alleviated some of the hassle. “This will have a huge impact on our supply chain. No. 1, we will be making the product right here in closer to our customer, and No. 2, we don’t have to rely on containers and supplies coming out of China. We are purchasing many of the parts right here in the U.S. or we’re purchasing it from our company in Japan. That really simplifies the process; it gets the product much closer to us. It’s also building the competency for our team to be able to innovate going forward.”
** Rinnai is a $3.2 billion company that is seen as one of the leading gas appliance manufacturers in the world. Rinnai is a market leader in Japan, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, with businesses also in Italy and the UK. For more than 100 years, Rinnai has developed high-quality products to heat water and homes. However, within the last few years, the company has looked towards new expansion opportunities, including investing in new markets to sustain innovation as well as operationalizing manufacturing and production to meet need. The North American market was quickly identified as one of the greatest growth vehicles for the company. Rinnai entered North America in 1974 in Southern California, moved to LaGrange, Ga., and recently its headquarters in Peachtree City, Ga.
The Rinnai PRO Network improves benefits with addition of leasing option through Advantage Alliance™ As professional contractors seek opportunities to maximize their engagement with customers and strengthen relationships with reliable manufacturers, Rinnai America Corporation is ready to take on the challenge. The company recently announced a nationwide partnership with Advantage Alliance™ to enable residential heating, cooling and plumbing Read more
The Rinnai PRO Network improves benefits with addition of leasing option through Advantage Alliance™
As professional contractors seek opportunities to maximize their engagement with customers and strengthen relationships with reliable manufacturers, Rinnai America Corporation is ready to take on the challenge. The company recently announced a nationwide partnership with Advantage Alliance™ to enable residential heating, cooling and plumbing contractors to offer homeowners a cost-effective approach to maintaining home comfort. This will be part of Rinnai’s PRO Network, a member-only program offering contractors tools, training and support to help grow their business.
Rinnai’s Worry Free Hot Water program, powered by Advantage Alliance, gives homeowners the ability to install a tankless water heater or home heating products with no money down and low monthly payments through a leasing agreement that includes 100% maintenance and upgrades. The program allows contractors to offer customers an all-inclusive membership plan that includes new, high-efficiency equipment as well as routine maintenance and repairs.
“Our partnership with Advantage Alliance™ expands upon benefits Rinnai PROs can offer to customers,” said Rinnai America Corporation President, Frank Windsor. “Our initiatives, programs and partnerships are designed to support the needs of professional contractors and we want to continue to provide innovative solutions and support. From our standpoint, this addition not only benefits our PROs, but it’s also a valuable offering for their customers.”
Rinnai’s PRO Network launched in early 2020 in an effort to engage professional contractors. Comprised of elite benefits for registered users including qualified leads, rewards, advertising and technology support, the introduction of this partnership will provide yet another avenue for business growth.
“Rinnai understands the importance of helping these hard-working contractors evolve and find greater efficiencies to increase profitability,” said Nicholas Blaylock, Director of Business Development at Advantage Alliance™. “The Advantage Alliance Program also brings many benefits to homeowners by making it even easier to manage and maintain their water heating systems.”
The Advantage Alliance Program provides contractors with the necessary infrastructure and support to implement the program while also providing flexibility to customize the program to meet their vision. It will be available to all Rinnai PRO Network registered users in 2022. To learn more about Rinnai, visit www.rinnai.us.
To learn more about the Advantage Alliance Program visit www.advantageallianceprogram.com.
As trusted hot water partner for all things installation, prevention and maintenance Rinnai America Corporation, the leading brand of tankless water heaters, now offers a unique National Accounts program to its commercial business partners. The program is designed to be a turnkey hot water solution for its commercial customers and includes both repair and replacement services. Rinnai’s one-stop Read more
As trusted hot water partner for all things installation, prevention and maintenance
Rinnai America Corporation, the leading brand of tankless water heaters, now offers a unique National Accounts program to its commercial business partners. The program is designed to be a turnkey hot water solution for its commercial customers and includes both repair and replacement services.
Rinnai’s one-stop hot water experience for hotels, restaurants and other commercial customers provides 24/7, 365 hot water support to ensure businesses can function at their highest level. Regardless of whether the water heater is a Rinnai unit or not, plumbers will be deployed from Rinnai’s vast network to assess the situation and repair product. If a replacement is needed, the plumber will work with the customer to identify the best solution for their business. And to ensure the customer has the right solution, the program delivers pricing quotes and 100% guaranteed system sizing. Additionally, in order to provide a worry-free solution for its customers, Rinnai handles all aspects of the businesses’ hot water from selecting the plumber to processing payments for the job.
“Hot water is a necessity and a vital part of our customer’s business,” said James Woodruff, Senior Director of Commercial Business for Rinnai America Corporation. “We offer our expertise in water heating as a service to our customers that is turnkey and simple. This allows them to worry less about their business operations while we ensure their hot water is there when they need it.”
Since its inception, the program has grown, now handling anything from small businesses to franchises with up to 1,000 locations. To cater fast services to the growing demand for tankless water heaters, as well as Rinnai’s growing clientele, the company has developed a vast list of contractors nationwide, who are readily available to give quotes and complete jobs when required as part of the Rinnai family.
“Through our extensive contractor network, we can coordinate our premium response program and offer a service that is much-needed by our customers in the industry,” said Rinnai America Corporation’s President Frank Windsor. “We are committed to Creating a healthier way of living, and providing a worry-free, turnkey solution for our customers is a great step towards achieving that commitment.”
To learn more about Rinnai’s National Accounts program, visit www.rinnai.us.
Renee to lead R&D team towards development of innovative technologies, driving market growth Rinnai America Corporation, manufacturer of the number-one selling brand of tankless gas water heaters in North America, announced Renee Eddy joined the organization as its Vice President of Innovation. With Renee’s zeal and extensive knowledge in developing new and innovative technologies, Rinnai Read more
Renee to lead R&D team towards development of innovative technologies, driving market growth
Rinnai America Corporation, manufacturer of the number-one selling brand of tankless gas water heaters in North America, announced Renee Eddy joined the organization as its Vice President of Innovation. With Renee’s zeal and extensive knowledge in developing new and innovative technologies, Rinnai will continue to expand its portfolio and drive growth in new markets.
“My passion is transforming data and technologies into cool, new products and that passion is sure to come through while at Rinnai,” said Renee. “I look forward to driving development for innovative technology, leading the team towards new idea creation and outside of the box thinking.”
Renee’s passion for creating new technologies began over 35 years ago. Most recently, she was Director of Innovation, Methods and Operations at Eaton, leading up to 200 employees. During her time at Eaton, she created the Innovation, Methods and Operations team from the ground up, developing a strong, collaborative culture within R&D across 26 divisions. Prior to her time at Eaton, Renee developed products across a number of industries for Fortune 100 companies and customers, including residential and commercial HVAC, transport refrigeration, telecommunications and aerospace.
“Renee’s diverse product knowledge in a variety of industries is invaluable for Rinnai,” said Frank Windsor, President, Rinnai America Corporation. “Her vision and expertise will spearhead the development of technologies in new markets, aiding in Rinnai’s growth strategy, as well as producing products that support our commitment to Creating a healthier way of living.”
Rinnai’s expansion goals not only encompass physical growth in North America but market growth, as well. With the addition of Renee to the executive leadership team, Rinnai will continue to drive R&D and push innovation to new heights.
To learn more about Rinnai, visit www.rinnai.us.