GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI Ceiling Cassette Heat Pump | 18000 BTU

GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 18,000 BTU Cassette Heat Pump, Compact Format: Even Warmth in Your Clinic's Waiting Room

The name on the unit has changed; the unit has not. The GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 18,000 BTU matches the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 18,000 BTU feature for feature: the ACUH18KUAS cassette in the ceiling, the AOUH18KUAS1 outdoor unit outside, AHRI certificate 215434547. It comes from the same manufacturer, known since January 1, 2026 as GENERAL Inc., with the same ENERGY STAR and cold-climate certifications and the same warranty of 12 years on the compressor, 12 years on parts and 6 years on labour.

We intend this one-and-a-half-ton system for the waiting room of a clinic: medical, dental, optometry, physiotherapy or veterinary. It is a room unlike any other in a building. People stay seated there, sometimes for a long time, often tired or unwell, some with their coat on their lap. In winter, the front door keeps opening onto the street. At reception, staff spend the whole day at the same station.

In this setting, comfort is judged on two points: an even temperature from one end of the room to the other, and no draft on the people sitting down. A wall-mounted head, placed above a row of chairs, does the exact opposite. The cassette, recessed in the middle of the drop ceiling, blows over several sides and draws air back in at the middle of its grille: the heat spreads toward every corner of the room before coming down toward the seats.

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

Founded in 1936, the company marks the 90th anniversary of its founding in 2026, as its press release of October 1, 2025 announced. As for the GENERAL name, it has served as a brand since 1946. What was added recently is a shareholder, then a name: Paloma Rheem Holdings, parent company of Rheem since 1988, acquired the manufacturer in August 2025, and the name GENERAL Inc. followed at the start of 2026. The same warranty program applies, the same factories produce the same models, and the Fujitsu brand is giving way gradually, which explains why the same cassette is still found under both names.

A clinic often keeps a register of its equipment. Whether the original invoice says Fujitsu and the maintenance record says GENERAL, the model number remains ACUH18KUAS, and that is what counts. We display both pages so that the link is obvious to you and to your manager alike. The following table compares the two names point by point.

The same machine, under its Fujitsu name, has its page here: Fujitsu AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 18,000 BTU ceiling cassette heat pump.

Airflow designed for a busy room. With 441 CFM, the CENTAURI 18,000 BTU moves enough air for a waiting room lined with chairs along the walls. The air leaves in a sheet along the ceiling and mixes before it reaches the patients. Those seated by the window and those waiting near reception feel the same temperature, with no stream on the back of the neck or on the legs.

What these figures are worth in the cold. A door that opens and closes on winter calls for a machine that does not weaken in the cold. The following values are certified by NEEP (ashp.neep.org), looked up by the system's AHRI number:

• at −8 °C, the temperature of an ordinary Montreal winter, the system delivers 14,400 BTU with a COP of 2.95;
• at −15 °C, when the clinic entrance lets in real cold, it delivers 17,100 BTU with a COP of 2.2;
• at −21 °C, the coldest point on the certificate, it still delivers 14,400 BTU with a COP of 1.99, and its guaranteed heating goes down to that temperature.

Read another way, a COP of 2.95 at −8 °C means that nearly two-thirds of the heat delivered is drawn from the outdoor air; only the rest is paid for in electricity. Even at −21 °C, with a COP of 1.99, about half of the heat still comes from outside. The HSPF2 of 11.3 gives the overall picture: it is the average efficiency across all the temperatures of a winter, and it is what shows up on the clinic's bills. In summer, the SEER2 of 21.9 and the EER2 of 12.6 rate the cooling, while the dehumidification of 4.6 pints/h prevents the heavy air of a full room on a July afternoon.

The sound of a waiting room. The indoor unit runs between 29 and 42 dB(A). Low speed sits below the sound of quiet conversations and the information screen; high speed, useful in the morning to warm the room before the first patients arrive, stays below the normal activity of a reception desk. Outside, the outdoor unit is rated at 52.0 dB(A).

The installation, step by step. Our HVAC team organizes itself so the clinic can keep seeing patients as much as possible:

• in a tiled drop ceiling, the cassette replaces one tile, its 22.44 in. cabinet being the compact format intended for a 2 ft × 2 ft grid; it needs enough clearance above for its 9.65 in of height, which we check first;
• the 1/4 and 1/2 in refrigerant line, the cable and the drain run above the ceiling toward the outside wall;
• the drain flows by slope or through a condensate pump, depending on the route, specified in the quote;
• the dedicated electrical circuit meets the unit's values: MCA of 15 A, MOP of 20 A;
• our refrigeration technician pulls the vacuum, commissions the system and runs heating and cooling tests.

The outdoor unit, which measures 31.46 × 11.42 × 24.88 in, goes at the back or the side of the building, away from the patient entrance. The system uses R-32. The finishing grille and the control method, with or without the Wi-Fi option, are confirmed in the quote.

Maintenance suited to a public place. A waiting room sees a lot of people pass through, and dust follows. The filters, reachable through the grille, deserve frequent cleaning; no ceiling disassembly is needed. Annual maintenance by a refrigeration technician is done through the neighbouring tiles, ideally outside appointment hours.

The LogisVert grant. This system is listed on Hydro-Québec's LogisVert list of October 27, 2026, with a grant of $1,728. A clinic's eligibility depends on its situation; we check it with you at the quote stage, before including that amount in your calculations.

The waiting rooms we choose it for:

• the medical or dental clinic whose waiting room opens directly onto the front door;
• the optometry, physiotherapy or veterinary clinic where patients wait seated along the walls;
• the space with a tiled drop ceiling where you want a single unit in the centre rather than a head on the wall;
• the room whose load matches 18,000 BTU, which our calculation confirms in the quote.

Vieux-Longueuil Clinics: Your Free Quote for a Ceiling Cassette

In Vieux-Longueuil, around rue Saint-Charles, clinics housed in older buildings often have a waiting room at the front, with a door that opens onto the sidewalk. We install this cassette there, as in the rest of Longueuil, in Montreal, Laval, on the North Shore and on the South Shore. For your free quote, dial 514 316-2973: we assess the room, the ceiling, the line route and the location of the outdoor unit, then we give you a detailed proposal.

Under either name, your clinic receives the same Heat Pump, the ACUH18KUAS cassette and the AOUH18KUAS1 unit, covered by the same warranty and installed by AirGreen, an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer.