GENERAL AIRSTAGE Aquila XLTH R32 2-Zone Heat Pump | 36,000 BTU | Montreal, Laval, South Shore, North Shore

GENERAL AIRSTAGE Aquila XLTH 2-Zone 36,000 BTU Heat Pump: two large zones for the century-old house without ducts, heating in deep cold and walls left intact, by AirGreen

A century-old house has its rules. Thick brick walls, plaster on lath you do not want to tear open, original woodwork, high ceilings and, of course, no ducts. The GENERAL AIRSTAGE Aquila XLTH 2-zone 36,000 BTU goes in without demolishing anything: one AOUH36KWAH4 outdoor unit behind the house, two wall-mounted heads inside, and a compressor powerful enough to heat large volumes down to −26 °C.

Under this name, you are buying exactly the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE Aquila XLTH system with the AOUH36KWAH4 outdoor unit. Its manufacturer, formerly Fujitsu General Limited, has carried the name GENERAL Inc. since January 1, 2026, and the system kept its AHRI certificate 215735282, its certified values, its cold-climate designation and its warranty of 12 years on the compressor, 12 years on parts and 6 years on labour. The configuration on this page shows two 7,000 BTU heads; in an older house with large rooms, we often choose bigger heads with you, as we explain below.

In Vieux-Longueuil and Greenfield Park, these houses are plentiful: a double living room on the ground floor, an open staircase, bedrooms upstairs, and heat that rises and stays at the top. Two large, well-placed zones, one downstairs and one upstairs, take care of most of the comfort without touching the finishes that give the house its charm.

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

The name changed following a purchase: in August 2025, Fujitsu General Limited was acquired by Paloma Rheem Holdings, which has also owned Rheem since 1988, and the company has been called GENERAL Inc. since January 1, 2026. Its head office and R&D centre remain in Kawasaki, Japan, and production takes place in the same factories; the AIRSTAGE line keeps its model numbers and its warranty program. The GENERAL brand itself dates from 1946, while the company, founded in 1936, celebrates the 90th anniversary of its founding in 2026. Rheem Canada has sold these products in Canada since February 2026, and we still buy them from Groupe Master, our distributor.

Because the Fujitsu brand is being withdrawn gradually, the same AOUH36KWAH4 may carry either name during the transition. We therefore keep two pages for a single machine, and the table below proves it, value by value.

Its twin under the original name can be viewed here: Fujitsu AIRSTAGE Aquila XLTH 2-zone 36,000 BTU. The figures and the compatible heads are the same there.

Before talking about heads and figures, here is what a hundred-year-old house demands of a heating system, and the answer we bring to it:

• No ducts: wall-mounted heads do not need any; each zone simply gets its refrigerant line, from the outside.
• Original brick and plaster: a single opening per head, through the exterior wall, right behind the indoor unit. No interior wall is opened.
• High ceilings and large rooms: each zone needs more capacity, hence a 36,000 BTU compressor for only two zones in the starting configuration.
• Air leaks: an old building envelope loses its heat faster, and capacity in deep cold becomes the first selection criterion.

On that last point, the AOUH36KWAH4's figures are reassuring. According to NEEP (ashp.neep.org), AHRI certificate 215735282, it delivers 24,400 BTU/h at −8 °C at certified rating, with a COP of 3.33, and can reach up to 38,000 BTU/h at peak. At −15 °C, NEEP lists up to 36,400 BTU/h, with a COP of 1.90. At −26 °C, its coldest certified point, it still produces 22,140 BTU/h with a COP of 1.66. Heating is guaranteed down to −26 °C, and a 150 W heater keeps the outdoor unit's base pan free of ice.

Translated for your house: a COP of 3.33 means that at −8 °C, every kilowatt-hour consumed becomes more than three kilowatt-hours of heat. At −26 °C, efficiency drops, but it stays above that of a baseboard or an electric furnace, which never go beyond one for one. In an older house, we still advise keeping the existing heating as backup: it will only be used on the nights when the house's demand exceeds what the two heads deliver.

Over the full season, the HSPF2 of 10.0 measures average heating efficiency, from fall to spring; the SEER2 of 22.0 and the EER2 of 13.0 do the same for air conditioning. ENERGY STAR grants it both the cold-climate designation and the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient designation. As for modulation, the certified minimum capacity of 12,000 BTU/h lets the Inverter compressor slow down on mild days rather than piling up stops and starts.

On this page, the configuration provides two 7,000 BTU heads, which suits two rooms of ordinary size. In a century-old house, the two zones are rarely ordinary. The AOUH36KWAH4 accepts up to 4 zones and six compatible indoor units, which we choose with you:

• ASUH07KPAS, 7,000 BTU, and ASUH09KPAS, 9,000 BTU: a bedroom or an upstairs office;
• ASUH12KPAS, 12,000 BTU, and ASUH15KPAS, 15,000 BTU: the closed dining room or the landing that serves the bedrooms;
• ASUH18KPAS, 18,000 BTU, and ASUH24KPAS, 24,000 BTU: the high-ceilinged double living room, or the whole upper floor when the bedroom doors stay open.

A useful clarification: a wall-mounted head heats the room it is in first. If the upstairs bedrooms stay closed at night, a single large head on the landing will not reach them all equally. That is the advantage of a compressor that accepts 4 zones: you start with two large zones, then add a head in a bedroom if your use of the house calls for it, without changing the outdoor unit. The manufacturer's matching rules act as a safeguard for every combination we propose.

The installation respects the house. The outdoor unit, 37 inches wide and rated at 56.0 dB(A), goes at the back, on a ground pad raised above the snow or on a bracket, away from the drip of old roofs. In the historic sector of Vieux-Longueuil, municipal regulations may govern equipment visible from the street; we take this into account when choosing the location and tell you what to check with the City. From there, one refrigerant line per head runs along the brick wall in a discreet line-set cover, then passes through the wall behind the head. The condensate drain follows the same path, by gravity; a small condensate pump takes over when the head has to go on an interior wall.

For maintenance, an older house has one particularity: dust from plaster and old floors can clog the indoor filters faster. They come out without tools and rinse in warm water; check them more often during the first year. The refrigeration technician handles the rest during the annual visit, cleaning the outdoor coil and inspecting the drains, the connections and the R-32 refrigerant, whose global warming potential is 675, versus 2,088 for R-410A according to ENERGY STAR.

On the LogisVert list published by Hydro-Québec on October 27, 2026, the AOUH36KWAH4 is associated with a grant of $2,928. Our quote states whether your house meets the program rules. Wi-Fi is available as an option, handy for restarting the upstairs heating before you get home.

This system is made for the owner who loves their older house just as it is and refuses to cut ducts into it, but who finally wants a cool upper floor in July and a warm living room in January. It suits the brick houses of Vieux-Longueuil, the older houses of Greenfield Park and any house without ducts where two large rooms carry most of family life. If you want one head per room from the start, we will begin with the same compressor and three or four zones.

Free quote in Longueuil, from Vieux-Longueuil to Greenfield Park, and across Greater Montreal

Our territory covers Longueuil, Montreal, Laval, the South Shore and the North Shore. For a house in Vieux-Longueuil or Greenfield Park, an advisor comes to measure the rooms, looks at the brick, the windows and the staircase, then proposes two zones, or more, with a free quote. Call 514 316-2973.

Our refrigeration technicians work for an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer holding an RBQ licence as an HVAC contractor, and they install this machine the same way under the GENERAL name or the Fujitsu name.