South African water-heating brand launches air conditioning, heating and ventilation offering under Haier Air & Water Solutions.
Kwikot, South Africa’s leading water-heating brand, has formally entered the local HVAC market, extending its more than 120-year history in hot-water systems into air conditioning, heating and ventilation.
Supplied by Kwikot (Haier)
The new offering was unveiled in Johannesburg today and represents the latest expansion of Kwikot’s portfolio since its acquisition by Haier in 2024. It forms part of a broader Air & Water Solutions offering spanning HVAC, water heating and water purification.
The move comes as households, businesses and property owners place increasing emphasis on the energy efficiency, running costs and long-term performance of the systems used to heat, cool and supply water to buildings.
“Customers are no longer necessarily looking at heating, cooling, energy and comfort as separate needs,” says Murray Crow, Managing Director of Kwikot. “Our entry into HVAC allows us to broaden the role Kwikot can play, bringing Haier’s global technology into the South African market while retaining the local relationships, service and support our customers and partners know.”
The broader Haier Air & Water Solutions portfolio includes:
- Heat pump heating: Monobloc, Hydro Split and Hydro Split All In One systems designed to operate at temperatures as low as -30°C and deliver hot water at temperatures of up to 85°C.
- Ventilation: Five platforms covering airflow requirements from 30 to 16,000 cubic metres per hour, incorporating energy-efficiency, heat-exchange and space-saving technologies.
- Air conditioning: Solutions ranging from residential split and integrated units to light-commercial air conditioning, VRF systems, chillers and control solutions for larger commercial applications.
- Water purification: Point-of-entry and point-of-use solutions including whole-house purification, under-sink reverse-osmosis and ultrafiltration systems, countertop drinking-water systems and water dispensers.
Kwikot has recruited a dedicated HVAC team to support the expansion locally and is strengthening its technical and after-sales capability for dealers, consultants and contractors.
According to Crow, this local support will be critical as the business moves into a category where specification, installation and maintenance have a direct impact on system performance.
“Entering a new category is not simply about launching products,” he says. “Correct specification, installation and commissioning all influence how effectively a system performs and how efficiently it uses energy. That requires technical expertise and strong relationships across the value chain.”
Kwikot’s support will extend from product selection and specification through to installation, commissioning and ongoing service.
The expansion combines Kwikot’s established South African distribution, technical capability and relationships across the plumbing, construction, retail and property sectors with Haier’s international HVAC research, development and manufacturing infrastructure.
Haier’s global innovation ecosystem includes more than 510 laboratories, with products developed to meet standards and certification requirements across more than 78 countries. Its manufacturing network includes 11 overseas smart industrial parks and 11 domestic smart factories, with combined manufacturing capacity exceeding 80 million units.
For Kwikot, HVAC is the latest step in a portfolio that has expanded beyond traditional electric water heating to include heat pumps, gas water heaters, water filtration and dispensing solutions.
“Kwikot has spent more than a century building its reputation around water heating in South Africa,” says Crow. “HVAC is a natural extension of that journey. It gives us an opportunity to apply our local market experience to a broader range of technologies that affect how people experience their homes, workplaces and commercial spaces every day.”
Source Supplied by Kwikot
