With camouflage, air conditioners become ‘where?’ conditioners

By STEVE EVERLY, The Kansas City Star, July 17, 2008

It’s summertime and central air conditioners are going about their business of keeping things cool and, if they’re among the newer models, doing so more efficiently than ever.

But if looks count for anything, that’s not enough.

Typically housed in tan or green metal boxes, central air conditioners for years have been surrounded by shrubs or fences to hide their utilitarian looks. Like a mechanical wart on the American landscape, they’re ignored or covered up.

Now a different solution is at hand, courtesy of Steve Burbridge, owner of Anthony Plumbing, Heating & Cooling in Kansas City, Kan. At an outdoor trade show, he was inspired by camouflaged hunting equipment, meant to conceal hunters. Why not do the same for central air conditioners?

Today he has a patent on painting air conditioners so they blend into their surroundings, an option that a major air conditioner manufacturer has licensed and is offering.

“This has been a long time coming.” Burbridge said. “Basically, air conditioners are ugly, and this will help conceal them.”

These are interesting times for makers of air conditioners, a post-World War II phenomenon that for decades was sold based on comfort and low prices. Now the marketing has shifted to efficiency and how a top-flight unit can save hundreds in cooling costs.

Compared to that, you might ask, who cares what they look like? Are consumers ready to spend roughly $200 or more in additional cost to buy a camouflaged air conditioner?

Norman and Donna Knorr of Pleasant Hill recently decided they were ready to take the plunge. They recently were shopping for an air conditioner, and the camouflage, paradoxically, caught their eye. It didn’t hurt that their daughter loves camouflaged items.

“This is different, but it fits right in,” Donna Knorr said. “And now our neighbors are coming over to look at it.”

It’s too early to know just how many other consumers will join them, but an unscientific approach suggests there are plenty who are irked by air conditioners’ traditional appearance.

Just ask someone in the landscaping business.

Jason Wagner, a landscape designer with Red Oak Landscaping in Overland Park, said customers often want to make their air conditioners less noticeable, especially when they are visible from the street or a patio. Planting evergreens in front of them is a favorite, along with building a fence or an earth berm.

“We’re always trying to conceal it with something,” he said.

Dig a little deeper and there may be more to this than you realize.

Michael Kidwell, an assistant professor at the Kansas City Art Institute and a former product designer for several companies, including Hallmark, was being interviewed about whether companies are finding that well-designed products are good business.

The short answer is yes, but he hadn’t thought much about air conditioners. As he was wrapping up his answer, his eyes landed on his home’s central air conditioner.

“I see three pieces of stamped metal, and that’s pretty minimal,” Kidwell. “There should be a better way.”

Burbridge is convinced that camouflaging air conditioners is one of those better ways. He actually prefers to use “conceal” instead of “camouflage,” because focus groups told him they connect camouflage to a military use.

Before he got the idea, he had frequently gotten requests from customers asking whether something could be done to make their new air conditioner less noticeable. Sometimes he was asked to paint the air conditioner the same color as the customer’s house. The problem has grown as more energy-efficient units get bigger because they require more coils.

“The bigger they’re getting, the more obnoxious they’re getting,” he said.

Burbridge’s patent is for using camouflage on air conditioners. He got a license for the camouflage patterns from RealTree, a Columbus, Ga., company founded in the 1980s that now sells various patterns to more than 1,000 companies. The patterns are variations of the science refined by the military, which in essence tricks the eye into blending the camouflaged item with its environment.

Camouflaged items, often referred to as camo, have become so popular that they are creeping into products that have nothing to do with concealment.

“You can have camo from cradle to grave,” said Dodd Clifton, marketing coordinator for RealTree.

He’s being literal. Camouflaged diapers and coffins are now available. But it took some doing to get camouflaged air conditioners to the market.

Once he got his patent, Burbridge approached one manufacturer who dismissed the idea.

“We don’t do things like that,” Burbridge recalled being told.

But discussions with Johnson Controls, the maker of York air conditioners, were more productive. They were already paying more attention to design, including offering units in more colors and even with college logos. Picture a large Kansas Jayhawk, Missouri Tiger or K-State Wildcat on the side of an air conditioner.

“Homeowners don’t want appliances in their yard,” said Mickey Smith, York brand manager.

But had they ever considered trying to conceal them? Not until they talked to Burbridge, and they quickly made a deal.

“It was one of those ‘Aha!’ moments,” Smith said.

The camouflaged options are now being offered in two varieties: one with a pattern of leaves, limbs and bark to be used in tree-lined landscapes, and the other to blend into areas with shrubs and natural grasses.

Marketing is just getting going, and Burbridge is hoping for the best. But he has another idea he’s been working on.

“This is just the beginning,” he said.

You know all those boxes the utilities have put in yards in your neighborhood? Burbridge has filed for a patent to camouflage those, too.