When the Taylor family decided to build a modern, custom home in Austin, Texas, their project team had to deliver when it came to selecting high-performance mechanical systems that didn’t interrupt their design vision. “They wanted something very comfortable, modern and livable,” said Tom Sullivan, an associate of CleanTag Llc, a local builder that specializes in building high-end residences.
Their first goal: find an HVAC system that could be flexible to their design preferences. For the engineer, the choice was obvious. “Mitsubishi Electric was chosen for several reasons. First and foremost, it’s the industry leader for this type of product as far as quality and durability,” said Jon Clark, engineering applications manager, Positive Energy. “Also, VRF design allows us to speed up and slow down the capacity of the cooling and heating to match the needs of a dynamic envelope such as this one. Mitsubishi Electric seems to be more of a challenge solver.”
Solving Design Challenges
And challenge solver it was for this particular project. “In a house like this, there’s no attic, so every route has to be very thoughtfully decided on the front end,” noted Sullivan. “Air distribution is always the biggest challenge because we need to get large volume air out from these units to the desired locations.”
“Two, four-ton multi-zone outdoor units were specified for this project,” said Greg Brown, area sales manager, METUS. “Each multi-zone outdoor units has two indoor units”. These units require less ductwork compared to traditional unitary systems and made installation a bit easier on the contractor. “We worked together with the framers to leave some of the trusses loose to be able to get our ducts in. Then they were able to come back and get their trusses in place,” said contractor Ignacio Moreno, owner, New Results Heating and Cooling.
Ensuring Performance
For the home’s performance, Mitsubishi Electric also offered the energy-efficient operation and comfort the family requested. “In a lot of these high-performance homes, where energy efficiency is expected, you need equipment that has the ability to run at very low speeds and also speed up to very high speeds if they were say, entertaining guests,” said Brown. “Mitsubishi Electric has super-efficient systems,” said Moreno. “This is a comfort solution for the homeowners.”
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