What if a heating and cooling system could control the temperature differently for each area of your home depending on how you feel. What if a system could keep a large number of people comfortable in your living room but just sipped energy to do it. What if a system used refrigerant that did not deplete ozone and the water it removed from the air was collected to be used for irrigation. What if a system brought in fresh air to ventilate your home while the air filter captured over 99% of airborne particles, allergens, even viruses. What is this system?

WHAT IS…

This heating and cooling system, the Sanyo ECO-i™, is the future. This home is approximately 3,085 square feet served by five air handlers totaling 7.9 tons of refrigeration capacity. Multiple air handlers allow for independent temperature control in each area of the home. The areas of control are the Loft, the Living-Kitchen-Dining area, the Master Bedroom-Bath-Guest Room area, the lower level Guest Room-Laundry area and the Wine Cellar. All of the air handlers share one 5 ton heat pump unit that monitors each air handler to determine the required heating or cooling. This is accomplished with an inverter driven compressor and variable refrigerant flow so that the outdoor unit works only as hard as the indoor units need at any given moment. This sharing of capacity helps to reduce the outdoor unit size and allows energy to be diverted to the air handlers that need it most. The system has an expected minimum SEER rating of 16 while the actual operating SEER rating is expected to be in the low 20s. All of the units are controlled by a main touch screen controller that even has web access capability while thermostats are provided in the individual spaces for local override. The control system not only manages the equipment but provides information on how energy is being used so the homeowner can see the savings. The system utilizes environmentally friendly refrigerant, R410A, which does not deplete ozone. In conjunction with the home’s rainwater collection system, the water (humidity) removed from the air by the cooling system is drained into the collection tank for even greater water savings.  Outside air is supplied to the air handlers to flush out indoor contaminants and provides positive pressure to prevent unwanted infiltration of outside air. The outside air and return air pass through a Trane CleanEffects™ filter system that captures 99.98% of all airborne particles. The filter provides exceptionally healthy air by removing dust, pollen, mildew, fungus, smoke and bacteria. The removal of stale indoor air is handled by several Panasonic WhisperGreen™ exhaust fans. These fans run continuously at very low flow to purge the home of contaminants and moisture. When greater flow is needed to remove odors or water vapor the airflow can be increased by a wall switch. Together, these components provide an exceptionally healthy and comfortable environment while saving energy for our future.