Many things in Australia are different from the way we know them: the sun reaches its zenith in the north, a lot of animals lay eggs and then suckle their young. It’s similar with their domestic hot water. A good 90 p.c. of water heaters are not installed in the house, as is the case here, but on the outside of the house. Water heaters are sold almost exclusively; a combi boiler or a heating system is extremely rare. Yet on the fifth continent, too, the trend is towards environmental friendliness, i.e. to appliances with optimised energy input. The thrifty consumption of water is also a must in many parts of Australia.

Even if we inevitably think of the outback, most of Australia’s relatively small population of only 20 million live on the east coast. And it’s there, in Melbourne, that the Robert Bosch subsidiary, which is also the sales office for the Thermotechnology Division, is based.

The overall market for gas and electrical appliances for water or space heating totals some 700,000 units annually. Electrical storage water heaters make up somewhat less than half of this figure, though electrical appliances are losing popularity. The main competitor in this market is Rheem who has a market share of almost 50 per cent.

A surprising fact is that solar appliances have a market share of only about five per cent, though demand is rising. Things are also changing in the market for gas appliances whose proportion of the overall market is rising; the trend here is away from storage water heaters and towards instantaneous water heaters. Of the 350,000 or so gas appliances sold each year, 62 p.c. are storage water heaters and 38 p.c. instantaneous water heaters. With a market share of 13 p.c. in the gas market currently, Bosch Thermotechnik and its Bosch brand are well placed in the gas appliance market which is worth 225 million Australian dollars, even though the company only sells gas instantaneous water heaters there. And this market is still growing, by between two and four per cent annually. Bosch Thermotechnik's product portfolio in Australia and New Zealand is specifically designed with this in mind. These are primarily appliances for installation in or outside the house, with the customer able to choose between a pilot light ignition system using a permanent flame or a HydroPower ignition system. The output ranges from 10 to 16 litres per minute. The range contains a wide choice of electronic continuous flow water heaters for households and industrial or commercial buildings. The output spectrum ranges from 17 to 32 litres per minute.
So everything is in place to continue the success story in Australia. Because thermotechnology from Bosch is no newcomer in domestic hot water provision down under; it’s been there for over 50 years.