GENERAL AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-Head Heat Pump | 18,000 BTU Compressor | Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, South Shore and North Shore

GENERAL AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-Zone 18,000 BTU Heat Pump: Two Rooms, a Tight Budget, the Fujitsu Multi-Zone System Under Its New Name, Installed by AirGreen

This GENERAL AIRSTAGE multi-zone system is, part for part, the same as the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE heat pump built around the AOU18RLXFZ outdoor unit: an 18,000 BTU compressor feeding 2 zones, here two wall-mounted heads of 7,000 + 7,000 BTU. The manufacturer, Fujitsu General Limited, became GENERAL Inc. on January 1, 2026. AHRI certificate 6998276, the ENERGY STAR certification, the performance values and the warranty have not moved by a single digit.

We put it forward for one specific case: you have two rooms to handle, say a living room and a bedroom, and a budget you do not want to blow past. An 18,000 BTU compressor running on R-410A refrigerant, two compact heads, a single hole through the exterior wall per head and a single unit outside. It is the most direct way into the world of the wall-mounted heat pump without buying two separate appliances or touching the interior walls.

In Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, where row housing leaves little room for two outdoor units and back balconies are shared between neighbours, this setup settles the space question and the budget question at the same time. One machine outside, two set points inside, and an HVAC contractor who knows those back lanes by heart.

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

The name change came from the top: Paloma Rheem Holdings, owner of Rheem since 1988, acquired Fujitsu General in August 2025, and the company has carried the name GENERAL Inc. since January 1, 2026. The head office and the research centre stay in Kawasaki, Japan; the factories, the model numbers, the warranty program and the AIRSTAGE line stay the same. During the transition, the same AOU18RLXFZ outdoor unit reaches us sometimes under one name, sometimes under the other.

So we keep both product pages online, with the same values side by side. You can order under either name: the compressor, the heads, the certificate and the warranty are identical, and our team installs both the same way. In Canada, sales have gone through Rheem Canada since February 2026, and Groupe Master remains our distributor.

The twin page Fujitsu AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-zone 18,000 BTU describes exactly the same system under its former name.

Let's talk performance, because that is where this multi-zone system earns its place in a tight budget. The manufacturer publishes a SEER2 of 18.0 and an EER2 of 12.5 in cooling: the first measures efficiency over a whole summer season, the second measures efficiency during a heat wave, when the compressor is working flat out. In heating, the HSPF2 reaches 8.7. The higher these three ratings, the less electricity you pay for the same comfort.

The number that really matters on a January evening is the capacity left in deep cold. According to the values published by the manufacturer, the AOU18RLXFZ outdoor unit still delivers 13,900 BTU of heat at −8 °C and 11,000 BTU at −15 °C, with a COP of 1.86 at that last temperature. A COP of 1.86 means that for every unit of electricity consumed, the heat pump delivers 1.86 units of heat; an electric baseboard delivers exactly one. Heating is guaranteed down to −15 °C. This model is not a certified cold-climate unit: below that temperature, your existing baseboards take over. The heat pump does the heavy lifting from November to March, and the baseboards fill in on the bitterest nights.

Each zone has its own set point. The living room head can run in cooling at your daytime temperature while the bedroom stays cooler for the night; in winter, you heat the room in use and turn the other one down. The Inverter compressor adjusts its speed to the combined demand of the two heads instead of stopping and restarting over and over. Outside, the published sound level of the outdoor unit is 49.0 dB(A), which matters when it sits a few steps from the neighbour's window. In cooling mode, the system also pulls up to 3.8 pints of water per hour out of the home's air, the humidity that makes August evenings sticky.

This page's configuration pairs two 7,000 BTU heads, but you choose your indoor units with us from the three compatible models:

• ASU7RLF1 (7,000 BTU): the bedroom, the office or the small closed room.
• ASU9RLF1 (9,000 BTU): the main bedroom or the mid-sized living room.
• ASU12RLF1 (12,000 BTU): the living area open onto the kitchen.

The AOU18RLXFZ outdoor unit accepts a maximum of 2 zones; it is a two-head system, full stop, and that is what keeps it simple and affordable. If a third space is on your mind, we will steer you toward a larger compressor in the same series rather than overload this one. To choose the capacities, we look at the floor area of each room, its sun exposure and its insulation; an oversized head short-cycles and dehumidifies less effectively.

On the installation side, here is what we do at your place:

• A single outdoor unit, set on a wall bracket or a ground base, raised to stay above the snow and clear of the eavestroughs, with free air all around it.
• One refrigerant line per head, each in its own sleeve, running from the outdoor unit to the location of the wall-mounted head.
• A head location chosen for air circulation: up high, on a clear wall, never above a tall cabinet or facing a heavy curtain.
• A condensate drain for each head, on a continuous slope to the outside or to a drain, tested with water before closing up.
• A dedicated electrical circuit, run by an electrician, then a commissioning by a refrigeration technician who checks the charge and the supply-air temperatures.

Maintenance comes down to two habits. The indoor filters of each head pull out without tools and rinse under lukewarm water; do it often in summer, and the airflow stays what it was on day one. Once a year, a refrigeration technician cleans the outdoor coil, checks the R-410A pressure and tests the drain. Wi-Fi is offered as an option, which lets you start the cooling from the metro before you get home.

Because the model is ENERGY STAR certified, it appears on Hydro-Québec's LogisVert list: the grant tied to this system is $695 according to the list in effect on October 27, 2026. We help you put the application together. On a first purchase with a counted budget, that amount tips the scale, and it comes on top of a warranty of 12 years on the compressor, 12 years on parts and 6 years on labour.

Who it is for, exactly: the couple buying their first home in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve who want to cool the bedroom and the living room without major work; the owner of a rented garden-level unit who wants to give the tenant two zones; the person working from home who wants a cool office in the afternoon and a tempered bedroom at night. In all these cases, two 7,000 BTU heads on an 18,000 BTU compressor cover the essentials, and R-410A, a refrigerant our technicians have handled for years, keeps routine servicing quick.

A Free Quote for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montreal and the Whole Region

Call us at 514 316-2973 or request your free quote online: we come by to measure your two rooms, pinpoint the spot for the outdoor unit and propose the heads that fit. AirGreen is an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer, an HVAC contractor holding an RBQ licence, and serves Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore.

If you are still torn between the GENERAL page and the Fujitsu page, do not lose any time over it: it is the same box coming out of our truck. The choice that matters is the heads and where they go, and we make it with you, at your home.