The Brand Story
ClimateMaster: The Quiet Machinery Inside America's Water-Loop Buildings
Picture an office tower on a bright January afternoon. On the south face, sunlight pours through the glass and the offices are too warm. On the north face, people are reaching for sweaters. Running through the building, out of sight, is a single loop of water, and in every zone a compact heat pump is either pulling heat out of that loop or pushing heat into it. Heat taken from the sunny side ends up warming the shady side. It is an idea built on thrift, and for more than seven decades it has been the life's work of ClimateMaster.
Chapter 1 · The late 1950s
A Florida beginning
ClimateMaster traces its origins to Florida in the late 1950s. The company's own history does not name the people who started it, and we will not guess. What it does record is the direction the young company took: it moved to New York and began manufacturing water-loop heat pump systems, the kind of equipment that lets every room in a large building run its own heating and cooling while sharing a common source of water.
That idea mattered most in places where one building could need heating and cooling at the same moment. Hotels, apartment towers, schools and office buildings all fit the description. Instead of one giant central plant trying to satisfy every tenant, a water-loop design puts a small, self-contained heat pump in each space and lets the loop carry the surplus heat from one zone to the next.
Chapter 2 · 1969 to 1985
Finding a home in Oklahoma City
The business that would become ClimateMaster's parent took shape in Oklahoma City in 1969, when Jack E. Golsen established the climate control operation that later grew into the Climate Control Group. In 1985 Golsen's company, LSB Industries, acquired the original Friedrich-ClimateMaster business. ClimateMaster's headquarters moved to Oklahoma City, and it has stayed there ever since.
Oklahoma City became more than an address. Over the following decades the group built more than a million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space in the city, with its own fabrication lines, automated quality control and product testing facilities.
Chapter 3 · 1985 to 2016
One brand inside a bigger family
Under LSB, ClimateMaster became the best-known name inside the Climate Control Group, a cluster of Oklahoma City companies that each owned a corner of commercial HVAC. International Environmental Corporation made hydronic fan coils, ClimaCool built modular chillers, ClimateCraft built large custom air handlers, and Koax and ThermaClime rounded out the group. ClimateMaster's job was the heat pump itself: closed-loop water source units for commercial buildings and geothermal heat pumps for homes and businesses.
The group's reach was mostly invisible to the public. About 70 percent of its sales went through independent manufacturers' representatives who specify equipment for engineers and mechanical contractors, and the rest went to equipment makers and wholesale distributors, sometimes under private labels. By fiscal 2015 the Climate Control Group reported net sales of $274 million.
Chapter 4 · 2016
A Swedish heat pump company comes calling
In May 2016 NIBE Industrier, a heating and heat pump manufacturer based in Markaryd, Sweden, announced it would buy 100 percent of the Climate Control Group from LSB Industries for $364 million, debt-free and cash-free. ClimateMaster, IEC, ClimateCraft and ClimaCool all came with it. The business was placed inside NIBE's Climate Solutions division, and a new management team led by Rick Aldridge took the reins in Oklahoma City.
For ClimateMaster the move put a water-loop specialist inside a European group that had spent decades on ground source and air source heat pumps. The product focus did not change. If anything, it sharpened.
Chapter 5 · Today
Still building in Oklahoma
Today ClimateMaster operates a 510,000-square-foot plant in Oklahoma City, supports more than 600 American jobs and sells through a network of more than 1,200 independent dealers. Its sister companies under the Climate Control Group include ClimaCool, ClimateCraft, IEC, TTI and KOAX. The company describes its work in plain terms: water source and geothermal heat pump systems for residential and commercial buildings.
The Lineup
What ClimateMaster builds today
ClimateMaster's catalog covers geothermal heat pumps for homes, water source heat pumps for commercial buildings and the controls and accessories that tie them together. What HVAC365 carries from ClimateMaster is the commercial core of that line: self-contained water source heat pump package units for water-loop and boiler-tower systems.
- Water source heat pump package units: vertical and horizontal ClimateMaster systems from compact zone units through 10 tons, all charged with R-454B refrigerant, with efficiency ratings in our listings running from 13.7 to 16.1 EER.
- Vertical units: built to stand in a mechanical closet, with left, right or front return and top-only supply options. The 3.5-ton 14 EER and 6-ton 16.1 EER vertical models are typical of the range.
- Horizontal units: made to hang above a ceiling, with left or right return so the filter and service panels face where a technician can reach them. The 4-ton 14.3 EER and 8-ton 15.3 EER horizontal models are good examples.
- Common sizes: 2-ton, 2.5-ton and 3-ton units for apartments, hotel rooms and small offices, alongside larger units for open floors and common areas.
- The wider category: ClimateMaster units sit within our all-in-one self-contained package units, where the compressor, coils and blower live in one cabinet.
Choosing between these models is mostly a building question. Return side, supply direction and cabinet orientation should match the space the old unit came out of, which is why the same tonnage appears in so many configurations.
The Next Chapter
Water-loop efficiency in the R-454B era
Water source heat pumps are rated by EER, a steady-state efficiency measured at fixed test conditions, rather than the seasonal SEER2 rating used for home split systems. The water loop is the reason. Because the loop is held in a narrow temperature band by a boiler and cooling tower, or by the ground in a geothermal system, each unit works against far steadier conditions than an outdoor condenser facing summer heat.
The ClimateMaster units in our catalog use R-454B, a lower global warming potential refrigerant in the A2L, mildly flammable, safety class. Contractors handle it with A2L-rated recovery and leak detection tools and follow the manufacturer's installation procedures, and R-454B equipment is not mixed with older R-410A circuits.
At a Glance
ClimateMaster at a glance
- Origins
- Late 1950s, Florida
- Headquarters
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Plant
- 510,000 sq ft, Oklahoma City
- Parent company
- Climate Control Group, a NIBE company
- NIBE purchase
- 2016, $364 million for the group
- Former parent
- LSB Industries, from 1985
- Sister companies
- ClimaCool, ClimateCraft, IEC, KOAX
- Dealer network
- More than 1,200 independent dealers
- Specialty
- Water source and geothermal heat pumps
Questions
Frequently asked questions about ClimateMaster
Who owns ClimateMaster?
ClimateMaster is a subsidiary of the Climate Control Group, which Sweden's NIBE Industrier acquired from LSB Industries in 2016 for $364 million. It operates within NIBE's Climate Solutions business.
Where are ClimateMaster heat pumps made?
ClimateMaster builds its equipment at a 510,000-square-foot plant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the company is headquartered.
When was ClimateMaster founded?
ClimateMaster traces its origins to Florida in the late 1950s. It later moved to New York to build water-loop heat pumps and has been based in Oklahoma City since LSB Industries acquired it in 1985.
What is a water source heat pump?
It is a self-contained heat pump that exchanges heat with a loop of water instead of outdoor air. In a building with many units, heat removed from one space can be carried by the loop to warm another.
What refrigerant do the ClimateMaster units on HVAC365 use?
The ClimateMaster water source heat pumps in our catalog use R-454B, a lower-GWP A2L refrigerant that requires A2L-rated tools and procedures.
What is the difference between vertical and horizontal ClimateMaster units?
Vertical units stand upright in a closet or mechanical room, while horizontal units hang above a ceiling. Both come in several return and supply arrangements to match the existing ductwork.
