GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI R32 Ducted Heat Pump | 48000 BTU

GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI ARUH48KUAS, 48,000 BTU Ducted Heat Pump: the whole family home on one hidden system

On this page, the ARUH48KUAS ducted indoor unit and the AOUH48KUAS1 outdoor unit make up the GENERAL AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 48,000 BTU system. If you have already seen them under the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE brand, you are not mistaken: it is the same machine, from the same manufacturer, Fujitsu General Limited, which became GENERAL Inc. on January 1, 2026. The manufacturer’s spec sheet and the warranty have not changed.

The idea is simple to state and demanding to do well: a single unit, hidden in the basement mechanical room, that heats and cools an entire family home, from the bedrooms upstairs to the family room downstairs. No wall head in the kids’ room, no different appliance on every floor: one duct system, discreet grilles and a single outdoor unit.

Two things tip the balance toward this model. The refrigerant leak detection sensor is built into the indoor unit, which matters when the equipment lives inside the house. And the $4,320 LogisVert grant listed for this system on Hydro-Québec’s list of October 27, 2026 is the highest in the entire CENTAURI series.

GENERAL or Fujitsu AIRSTAGE: the same machine

It all starts with a buyout. In August 2025, Fujitsu General Limited came under the control of Paloma Rheem Holdings, already the owner of Rheem since 1988, and the company has been called GENERAL Inc. since the start of 2026. The head office and the R&D centre are both still based in Kawasaki, Japan; nothing changes either for the factories, the AIRSTAGE range, the model numbers or the warranty program. The Fujitsu name is fading out little by little and, during the transition, you will find the same machine under both names.

AirGreen shows both versions for a practical reason: you should be able to compare row by row, without guessing. The following table lines up the two columns. These products have been sold in Canada by Rheem Canada since February 2026, Groupe Master is still our distributor, and we install them as an AIRSTAGE Elite Plus installer.

The version sold under the Fujitsu brand is still available on the Fujitsu AIRSTAGE CENTAURI 48,000 BTU page.

In a whole house, the ducted system behaves like an invisible central system. The ARUH48KUAS goes in the mechanical room, in the basement ceiling or in a utility closet; supply ducts run up to every room and one or more return air grilles bring the air back to the unit. On the ground floor as upstairs, air arrives through floor or ceiling grilles. Nobody sees the unit, and every room gets its share, out of a maximum airflow of 1,501 CFM.

Many family homes already have ducts, left over from a furnace or an old central air conditioner. They are not necessarily good for the scrap heap, nor necessarily good to keep. We inspect them at the visit and assess whether they fit the unit’s static pressure range, 0.12 to 0.72 in. WC according to the manufacturer. Once running, the unit automatically detects the static pressure of the duct system and adjusts its airflow. The return air connects on the side or from below, which gives some flexibility in a mechanical room that is already busy.

One unit does not mean one temperature everywhere. The CENTAURI is compatible with Airzone communicating zoning, a third-party option: motorized dampers in the ducts separate, for example, the bedroom floor from the ground floor. It is not mandatory, and in many houses a good balancing of the grilles is enough; we will tell you frankly whether zoning is worth the expense in your home.

Back to the leak sensor. It is part of the indoor unit from the factory. The system runs on R-32, a refrigerant with a low global warming potential, and the universal, compact outdoor unit relies on an Inverter compressor. For equipment housed under the floor where the family sleeps, knowing that the monitoring is built into the machine rather than added afterwards is worth something.

The certified values for this system:

• AHRI certificate 215812203;
• ENERGY STAR with the cold climate designation (ID 3630316);
• seasonal ratings: SEER2 of 16.4, EER2 of 9.8 and HSPF2 of 10.0;
• 36,000 BTU of heating capacity at −8 °C, COP of 2.75;
• 38,500 BTU of heating capacity at −15 °C according to NEEP, COP of 2.21.

These two heating capacities do not come from the same test point. Drawing a gap between them would be misleading, so we leave them as they are. The manufacturer states heating down to −21 °C and specifies “no low temperature cut out”: the system keeps running below its rated range, but no capacity is published for those conditions. For a whole house, we therefore always discuss backup heat. The CENTAURI handles several backup heating logics and can control a backup appliance through its external outputs.

On the electrical side, the system needs a dedicated 208/230 V circuit: minimum circuit ampacity of 24 A and maximum overcurrent protection of 30 A according to the data file. We check at the visit that your panel has room, rather than finding out on the day of the work.

In summer, a family home produces a lot of humidity: showers, cooking, laundry. The system removes up to 8.2 pints of water per hour in dehumidification, and the built-in condensate pump drains it away. Indoors, the ducted unit’s sound level sits between 29 and 40 dB(A), across four fan speeds plus Auto mode. The outdoor unit is rated at 59 dB(A); we choose its location with the bedroom windows in mind, yours as well as the neighbours’. For that, the manufacturer’s spec sheet allows a refrigerant line of up to 246 ft (75 m), precharged for 98 ft (30 m), with a minimum length of 16 ft (5 m) and a maximum height difference of 98 ft (30 m).

The system ships without a control: the controller is bought separately. The options:

• a wired touchscreen, UTY-RNRUZ5 or KAGAMI UTY-RVRU, or a plain wired control;
• UTY-TFSXJ4 Wi-Fi adapter and the AIRSTAGE Mobile app, to adjust things from your phone;
• wireless remote and IR receiver, together in the UTY-LBTUM kit;
• 24 V thermostat interface.

For a family, the weekly timer is the most useful function: you set it to the school and work schedule, once and for all. Add to that the 24-hour timer, the sleep function, the economy, energy saving, powerful and minimum heat modes, automatic defrost and automatic restart after a power outage.

Routine maintenance comes down to the filter. We leave an access hatch in front of the unit so it slides out without opening a ceiling, and the ProCore copper coils, highly resistant to corrosion, hold up well over time. Commissioning is a job for a refrigeration technician. The warranty is the same as the Fujitsu twin’s: compressor 12 years, parts 12 years, labour 6 years. The LogisVert grant applies under the conditions of Hydro-Québec’s program.

This system suits family homes where the load calculation confirms a need of this size, houses with ducts that can be reused, and families who want no visible equipment in the rooms. It does not suit a house whose needs are clearly smaller: 48,000 BTU is the largest capacity in the series, not a default choice.

Free quote in Mont-Saint-Hilaire and everywhere on the South Shore

For a whole house, the quote starts with a visit: the rooms, the existing ducts, the electrical panel, the location of the outdoor unit. It is free; call 514 316-2973.

We serve Mont-Saint-Hilaire and the whole South Shore, as well as Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and the North Shore. GENERAL or Fujitsu on the box, it is the same heat pump, and the same HVAC work, from the mechanical room to the last grille.