GENERAL AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-Head Heat Pump | 45,000 BTU Compressor | Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, South Shore and North Shore

GENERAL AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-Zone 45,000 BTU Heat Pump: The Converted Attached Garage and the Family Room, Two Large Zones on a Single Compressor, Installed by AirGreen

Under the GENERAL AIRSTAGE label sits exactly the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE system built around the AOU45RLXFZ outdoor unit: the same 45,000 BTU compressor, the same 2 zones, and a page configuration with two wall-mounted heads of 9,000 + 9,000 BTU. Since January 1, 2026, the manufacturer has been called GENERAL Inc. rather than Fujitsu General Limited. AHRI certificate 8908617, the values published by the manufacturer and the warranty of 12 years on the compressor, 12 years on parts and 6 years on labour have not changed.

An attached garage turned into living space is often the largest room in the house, and the hardest one to keep comfortable. A concrete slab underfoot, a new wall where the overhead door used to be, sometimes no heat source planned at all: in January, you keep your sweater on in there, and in July, you avoid going in during the afternoon. Add the living room or the family room on the house side, and you have two large volumes that each call for plenty of output. This is exactly the kind of house where a 45,000 BTU multi-zone system makes sense.

In Lorraine as in Bois-des-Filion, on the North Shore, a converted attached garage becomes in turn a playroom, a gym, an office or a studio for a parent. Whatever the use, it needs its own zone, powerful enough to make up for the slab and the exposed walls.

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

Fujitsu General and GENERAL Inc. are the same company at two points in its history. After the acquisition by Paloma Rheem Holdings in August 2025, owner of Rheem since 1988, the new name took effect on January 1, 2026. Nothing changes for the head office and the R&D centre in Kawasaki, Japan, nor for the factories, the AIRSTAGE products, the model numbers and the warranty program. Only the Fujitsu brand is stepping back, gradually, so the same AOU45RLXFZ outdoor unit is circulating under both names for now.

Rather than choose a label for you, we publish both pages, and the table that follows lines them up value by value. In Canada, Rheem Canada took over sales in February 2026; Groupe Master remains our distributor, and our technicians install either version in exactly the same way.

The Fujitsu AIRSTAGE RLXFZ 2-zone 45,000 BTU page presents this same system under the Fujitsu name.

A converted garage is judged in winter. According to the values published by the manufacturer, the AOU45RLXFZ outdoor unit delivers 28,200 BTU of heat at −8 °C and 31,400 BTU at −15 °C, with a COP of 1.88 at −15 °C. For you, that means this: when the thermometer drops to −15 °C, every dollar of electricity the heat pump consumes produces 1.88 times the heat it would give in a baseboard or a convector. Heating is guaranteed down to that temperature. Since this model is not certified for cold climates, keep an electric backup in the converted room for the most frigid nights.

Over the whole cold season, the HSPF2 reaches 9.2; in summer, the SEER2 climbs to 20.0, with an EER2 of 10.5 for heat-wave days. HSPF2 adds up heating performance over a full winter, SEER2 does the same for cooling, and EER2 isolates the hottest hours. In a house where two large volumes are heated or cooled for much of the year, these high ratings show on the bill.

Two independent zones are what make the converted room truly usable. The gym can stay cool during the morning workout while the family room waits at its daytime temperature; the office set up in the former garage warms up before you arrive and goes on standby when you close the computer. The Inverter compressor splits its output between the two heads according to actual demand. In cooling, the unit removes up to 3.8 pints of water per hour, an asset in a room on a slab where humidity tends to settle in. For the neighbours, the manufacturer publishes an outdoor sound level of 55.0 dB(A).

The page is configured with two 9,000 BTU heads, but a 45,000 BTU compressor is built to think bigger. For a converted garage and a family room, we look first at the large indoor units. Here are the six compatible models:

• ASU7RLF1 (7,000 BTU): a bedroom or a small office, if you add a zone.
• ASU9RLF1 (9,000 BTU): this page's base, for two mid-sized rooms.
• ASU12RLF1 (12,000 BTU): a living room of ordinary dimensions.
• ASU15RF1 (15,000 BTU): often a good starting point for a converted, well-insulated single garage.
• ASU18RLF (18,000 BTU): a converted double garage or a large family room.
• ASU24RLF (24,000 BTU): the very large volume, with a high ceiling, many windows or a poorly insulated slab.

These are reference points, not rules: the right capacity depends on the floor area, the insulation of the slab and walls, and the windows, and we calculate it on site. Since the AOU45RLXFZ accepts up to 5 zones, the upstairs bedrooms can also be connected to the same compressor later.

What the installation by our team includes:

• The outdoor unit goes on the side of the house, away from the driveway, so it does not end up under the snow the snowblower or the shovel piles up there.
• One refrigerant line per head: the converted garage's line often goes straight through its exterior wall, the family room's line follows the shortest and most discreet route.
• The head in the former garage is mounted high on the longest wall, to sweep the whole room.
• Each head drains to the outside; in a room on a slab where no slope is possible, a condensate pump takes care of it.
• A dedicated electrical circuit, then a commissioning by a refrigeration technician who tests each zone in heating and in cooling.

The indoor filters deserve special attention in a converted garage, especially if it serves as a gym or a workshop: dust builds up faster there. Take them out, rinse them, let them dry, put them back. A yearly inspection by a refrigeration technician completes the routine: outdoor coil, drainage, connections. With Wi-Fi offered as an option, you warm up the room from your phone before heading down.

On the question of grants, let's be clear: this model is neither ENERGY STAR certified nor on Hydro-Québec's LogisVert list of October 27, 2026. So no amount should be expected on that side. Its case lies elsewhere: an HSPF2 of 9.2, solid heating capacity at −15 °C and the manufacturer's long warranty.

This system is aimed at the owner who has converted the attached garage and finally wants to use it all year, and at the house where two large ground-floor living spaces ask for more than an ordinary-sized head can give. It also suits the family planning to add zones over time: with up to 5 zones on the same compressor, what comes next is planned in advance.

Lorraine, Bois-des-Filion and the North Shore: Let's Talk About Your Converted Garage

AirGreen offers a free quote: dial 514 316-2973 or fill out the online form. We measure the converted room and the family room, examine the slab, the windows and the wall of the former door, then recommend the two heads that fit. As an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer and an HVAC contractor with an RBQ licence, we serve Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore.