5-Zone Heat Pump ARCOAIRE DLCMHB | 48,000 BTU - R410A

Five rooms, five set points: a 4-ton condenser used down to its last connection

In a family home, every room has its own habits. The living room is used in the evening, the office during the day, the children's rooms go to bed early, the main bedroom later. The 5-Zone Heat Pump ARCOAIRE DLCMHB | 48,000 BTU - R410A gives five of these rooms a wall head and a set point of their own, all connected to a single DLCMHBH48EAK condenser.

This 4-ton condenser serves 5 zones here, which is its maximum of 5. The wall heads intended for it are the DLFSHCH09XAK, the DLFSHCH12XAK and the DLFSHCH24XAK. Its certified ratings are 21.2 SEER2, 11.0 EER2 and 10.0 HSPF2. The system is ENERGY STAR certified with the cold-climate designation under ENERGY STAR ID 2410134, and it qualifies for a $4,680 LogisVert grant.

Every room in a family home

This size targets a house where five rooms need to be handled separately: the living space on the ground floor, the main bedroom, two children's rooms and an office, for example. It also suits a large bungalow with a finished basement, where the family room and a guest room are added to the ground-floor rooms. Each closed room gets its own head; none depends on heat coming through the hallway.

The result depends on the building envelope. In a well-insulated house, the five heads carry most of the heating and all of the cooling. In an older house, we calculate the load of each room and the share left to the electric baseboards, and we write it into the quote.

Five heads, one capacity

The five heads share the condenser's capacity. In practice, the five rooms rarely reach full demand at the same moment: the office quiets down when the bedrooms wake up, and a guest room often stays closed. That is what allows a single condenser to serve five rooms. On the coldest nights, however, every zone calls at once; that is the moment our load calculation checks.

The choice of heads follows the actual size of the rooms. The DLFSHCH24XAK, the largest of the intended heads, goes in the living space. The DLFSHCH12XAK suits the main bedroom or an exposed room, the DLFSHCH09XAK the children's rooms and the office. Oversizing a head in a small room brings nothing: it reaches its set point too quickly, stops often and removes less moisture. With 5 zones out of a maximum of 5, every connection on the condenser is used.

The five line routes

Each head is connected to the condenser by its own refrigerant line set, communication cable and drain. Five zones therefore means five holes and five routes to plan. We group them as much as possible in one or two painted line covers that follow the lines of the facade, and go indoors when a closet, the attic or the basement ceiling allows it. You see each route before the first hole is drilled.

The condenser is placed where the total length of the routes is shortest, above the snow line, on a stand or a sturdy bracket, away from snow sliding off the roof and from bedroom windows. It is connected to a dedicated circuit, and we check the panel's space and capacity during the visit.

Winter: what the certificate shows

The certificate lists 39,000 BTU/h at -8 °C (17 °F), with a COP of 2.50, and 45,000 BTU/h at -15 °C (5 °F), with a COP of 2.00. The maximum published capacity is 45,000 BTU/h at -15 °C. The two points are measured separately; we report each one as published.

At -15 °C, the five heads therefore share 94% of the condenser's nominal size, and each kilowatt-hour consumed returns two kilowatt-hours of heat, where a baseboard returns one. ENERGY STAR's cold-climate designation confirms that the combination meets the low-temperature performance criteria.

The certificate does not publish a colder point. The existing baseboards therefore stay in place as backup, set slightly below the heads' set point; they serve during extreme cold and defrost cycles, those few minutes when the condenser melts the frost off its coil and lets out a cloud of vapour.

These figures come from certificate AHRI 207642999, published by NEEP.

The inverter compressor with five zones

The more zones there are, the more modulation matters. When a single small bedroom needs a little heat, the inverter compressor runs slowly and meters just enough R-410A refrigerant for it. When the whole house calls, it speeds up. In between, it follows demand without repeated starts, which keeps temperatures steady and spares the equipment.

The five heads always work in the same mode, heating or cooling, as on any multi-zone system of this type. Shutting off an unoccupied zone leaves the other four running normally.

Cooling and humidity throughout the house

In cooling, the system is built around a nominal size of 48,000 BTU/h for the five zones. Each bedroom is set for the night without cooling the living room, and the office is cooled during the day without touching the empty bedrooms. Extended low-speed operation removes moisture from the air; each head also offers a dehumidification mode for muggy days.

The certified ratings, in plain terms

• 10.0 HSPF2: heating efficiency over the whole cold season, the rating that weighs most on the bill in Quebec.
• 21.2 SEER2: cooling efficiency over a whole summer.
• 11.0 EER2: cooling at full load, in hot weather.
• COP: the ratio between heat delivered and electricity consumed at a specific temperature, here 2.50 at -8 °C and 2.00 at -15 °C.

The $4,680 LogisVert grant

The system is listed in Hydro-Québec's LogisVert program, with $4,680 for the owner of an existing home, according to the list in effect on the installation date. We confirm eligibility before signing and prepare the detailed invoice, model numbers and proof of payment. Our page on the efficient heat pump grant summarizes the program's conditions.

Commissioning and follow-up

Commissioning, zone by zone

Once the five heads, lines and drains are in place, we pull a vacuum and run a leak test on each circuit. Each zone is then started and checked separately, in heating and in cooling. We label each remote with its room, so none ends up in the wrong bedroom, then we set them up with you and show each family member how to adjust their own zone.

Maintaining five heads

Rinse the filters of all five heads every two weeks in season; doing them all on the same day keeps any from being forgotten. Keep the condenser clear of snow and leaves, without covering it in winter. One HVAC maintenance visit per year cleans the coils, fans and drains of all five heads and checks the electrical connections. Our cleaning service takes over when you prefer to hand off the annual visit.

Warranty

Warranty: 10 years on the compressor, 10 years on parts and 6 years on labor.

AirGreen, for the life of the installation

A family business active for more than fifteen years in Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore and the South Shore, we hold RBQ licences for ventilation, refrigeration and electrical work and carry $5,000,000 in liability insurance. The in-home assessment is free, the quote is in writing, and our financing options let you choose the right unit rather than the cheapest one.

Request your free estimate for the 5-Zone Heat Pump ARCOAIRE DLCMHB | 48,000 BTU - R410A. We assess your five rooms and confirm the right size and your grant eligibility before signing.

Available while supplies last.