Laars Engineering was founded by engineer Avy Miller in 1948. Miller wanted to develop systems for faster water heating. His finned copper tubing design allowed water to be heated up to nine times faster, compared to using older heaters with cast iron vessels.
At first, the new Laars heaters were primarily designed for swimming pools. However, Laars eventually moved on to designing boilers for space-heating and domestic hot water too.
Because the Laars design involved moving the water quickly through the tubes, it also reduced the build-up of lime and scale. This improved cleanliness and efficiency as well as speed.
Today, the Laars Heating Systems Company belongs to the Bradford White family of companies. Laars produces a wide range of residential and commercial products, including space-heating boilers, domestic hot water boilers, volume water heaters, and commercial pool heaters.
In their residential product line, Laars offers boilers and water heaters that carry Most Efficient 2018 designations from EnergyStar. Their space-heating boilers can be integrated with homes’ existing heat distribution systems, including baseboard heaters, radiators, and radiant in-floor heating.
On the commercial side, Laars has produced and installed space heating and water heating systems for a wide range of customers. For instance, the San Francisco 49ers new Levi’s Stadium uses two Laars Rheos+ volume water heaters to produce up to 6,000 gallons of hot water per hour.
In addition to needing an enormous quantity of water, the Levi’s Stadium was designed for ultra-high efficiency, allowing it to achieve LEED Gold Certification. That meant that the hot water system also had to be very high efficiency. The Laars Rheos+ achieves 92% AFUE and produces extremely low emissions.
Another interesting Laars commercial project was designing a system for the hippo pool at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The challenge at the zoo was to keep the hippo pool constantly at the hippo’s ideal temperature.
And the entire project had to be completed in a single week, so that the hippos could get back into their habitat. Laars installed a 2000 MBH Laars Pennant Pool Heater and got the hippos back into their comfy pool with no delays.
Other customers using Laars commercial products include the Ronald McDonald House in New York, Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort in California, and the Ohio State Police Academy.