HVAC
J.S. Rancourt is a principal at DXS, a Toronto-based company that specializes exclusively in VRF technology. He can be reached at js.rancourt@dxseng.com.
By J. S. Ra nc o u r t
condos EXPANDING THE VRF UNIVERSE
ariable refrigerant flow (VRF) HVAC systems are no longer considered a new thing. It has been more than a decade since the first major global alliance was forged between a large Japanese VRF manufacturer and a North American HVAC manufacturer. Since then, numerous global alliances have been forged, and system offerings have increased throughout North America.
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As a result, there are now large office buildings, schools, churches, government buildings, medical buildings and, as detailed in my last article (see Mechanical Business Nov./Dec. 2015), a very large hotel in Canada that are using VRF for their main HVAC systems. There is precedence, there is track record, there is adoption; so what’s next for this technology? How about the condo industry? As a matter of fact, there are currently a couple of landmark condo projects in the Greater Toronto Area under construction that will be using air-source VRF as their sole means of space heating and cooling. Why did it take until now to look at the residential market, and why do we now predict that the next big thing for VRF will be in the condo industry? The answer revolves around two main points: reduced capital costs of VRF systems and new energy efficiency requirements.
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