WaterFurnace Expands Commercial Offerings
Company offers more by making its products fit into a smaller space
INSIDE OUT: The Versatec 700 is a direct outdoor air system that actually sits within a building. It fits through 36-inch doorways and elevators. (Courtesy of WaterFurnace)
WaterFurnace has been a provider of geothermal and water source heat pumps since the 1970s. For much of that time, the company’s leadership focused on the residential market. In the past few years, the company started to expand its commercial offerings. At this year’s AHR Expo, WaterFurnace’s booth displayed a branding system that conveys the company leadership’s commitment to the commercial market.
There are two brands for the commercial products. Versatec is the name found on WaterFurnace’s water-to-air heat pumps. TruClimate is the line of chillers and water-to-water applications.
STAYING TRU: Water Furnace has created two brands for its commercial product. The TruClimate line, which includes the 300, features chillers and water-to-water applications. (Courtesy of WaterFurnace)
“We’ve been getting and more and more serious about the commercial market in the last decade or so,” said Tim Litton, WaterFurnace’s director of marketing communications. “We realized that as we’re growing, we had to simplify the naming.”
New this year was the Versatec 700 indoor DOAS. This is WaterFurnace’s first foray into this market. The Versatec 700 is actually installed indoors. This avoids the cost of a rooftop install and makes service and maintenance easier. It also fits through 36-inch doorways and elevators.
The DOAS combines a refrigeration circuit, energy recovery, and ventilation all in one integrated system. There is a touchscreen for access to the controls. These are all built on the company’s Aurora platform.
The redesign of one Versatec product required a name change. The Versatec XL is now the Versatec 500 after WaterFurnace engineers managed to reduce the 7- and 15-ton units by nearly half. This frees up space in the mechanical room for other uses, Litton said.
The line features a direct-drive ECM motor and all-aluminum lace coils. There is a hot gas reheat option available.
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“You get all the benefits of a modern high-efficiency product in a much smaller footprint,” Litton said.
On the TruClimate side, WaterFurnace showed off the 700 chiller. It provides simultaneous cooling and heating if desired. Litton said the unit is able to do that because of a six-pipe header rack. The rack is removable, so contractors can pre-plumb the system before the refrigerant part gets sent out. For building operators, if they know their needs will grow in future, they can have the contractor pre-plumb for that. When it comes to service, the technician can pull out the header rack to work on it.
WaterFurnace remains committed to the residential side, and here again the company offers more by making its products fit into a smaller space. In this case, it’s a split-configuration heat pumps. These are aimed at markets that usually lack basements, Litton said. The new configuration fits into a crawl space or mechanical room. It’s a product customers had been asking for, he said.
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