Welcome to Did You Know, the ESCO HVAC podcast,
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new for us to learn. I'm Clifton Beck, and this
is Did You Know? The ESCO Age Fact Podcast. Let's
dive in. Well, hello, everyone. Thank you for
joining Did You Know? The ESCO Age Fact Podcast.
So today we're spending some time with Sam and
Steven from Hitachi. Guys, how's it going? I'm
doing wonderful. It's decent weather outside
and looking forward to an up and coming weekend.
You know, we've had some really hot weather and
it's hopefully going to cool down a little bit
and kind of kind of lead us in today's scenario.
We're going to spend a little bit of time talking
about. home and comfort and solutions. And in
particular, we're going to dive into the Hitachi
Air Home products and get a little bit more comfortable
with heating and cooling comfort. What do you
think? Sounds like a great plan. Let's do it.
All right. Well, we can always talk about like
technology. I think that's a great place to start.
We know that Hitachi was like the industry first
brushless DC compressor back in 1983. So Hitachi
is not new to the inverter realm, to the comfort
realm. And along the way, you've been building
products and building the air home kind of comfort
system, the ecosystem of its own. So let's talk
about what's happening in that realm. So, I mean,
as you know, right, you know, we've obviously
been around the inverter technology, VRF, DFS,
you know, since the 80s, I believe, if I can
recall. Hitachi itself has been around for...
100 year plus, you know, they started back in
the 20s, I think 1920s. But so obviously Hitachi
has always been an innovator, right? We developed
some of the critical stuff. You know, I don't
want to say we were the first to develop this
inverter technology. I don't know if that's an
accurate statement, but we do know for a fact
that we were the ones to develop things like
the scroll compressor. you know, which obviously
in a lot of these new technologies with the DFS
or VRF, they're using these type of compressors.
You know, we developed one of the first pack
systems similar to the rack systems, a lot of
like new IDUs, like four -way cassettes, a lot
of these indoor units that are being used as
of today. So we've been a lot of the new innovations
when it comes to these products, right? And we
know here, obviously North America, we use this
opportunity with the new A2O transition. to develop
our new lineup called air home that I think we've
developed it. We kind of fine tune that that
line card to be able to tie in specifically those
to those residential markets. That is the that
is the reason why we call this air home product
our rack products rack, meaning residential air
conditioning. So that's kind of a little bit
of a little bit of a background on this, right?
Yeah. One of the cool things that we're seeing
is heating capacities. Like some of the systems
are doing, you know, minus four degrees Fahrenheit
with 100 % capacity in that 800 series. So can
you tell us a little bit more about the 400,
600, and 800 series products? So we, you know,
we've done a substantial amount of... analyzing
i guess the market in general right we kind of
try to see what what kind of products we can
bring in to fit in in different categories of
the market right whether it's based on comfort
cooling whether it's based on heating or cooling
zone regions, whether it's south, central, north
regions, different type of aspects of customers,
depending on the features that they want, depending
on what specifications that they're requesting,
depending on kind of aesthetics and the feel
of the product. So we've done a substantial analysis,
and this is why we came up with different tiers.
of the air home right so as you mentioned we
have the tier of the air home 400 we have the
air home 500 or sorry 600 and we have the air
home 800 right so meaning is airhome 400 kind
of ties into more of the we we don't want to
call it an entry level tier but i guess we can
start it as technically it is considered an entry
level tier so it's more applying to those kind
of region zone one zone two regions and it's
applying to those more customers that are kind
of focused more on kind of budget savings but
still want a good product right you still get
some of those decent features and technologies
now you move on to the higher tier like the 600
It's more applying to those cold climate regions,
right? As we were discussing, it's a cold climate
heat pump applying to more of those regions,
three regions, fours, right? To be able to tie
into those customers, but at the same time, also
improving the features and the benefits of the
product. So being a little bit more on the standard
costs, right? Kind of household income. Then
you go into the higher tier products, right?
For those that say, you know what? I want the
best of the best. Then you go with the Airhome
800. So you get best of everything, right? Cooling,
best of heating. best of the features best of
the appearance best of i mean you name it you
know even your own handheld remote controllers
everything just comes in a premium a premium
setup for those products so again uh cold climate
has been a very big thing that heat pumps always
lacked previously Right. And as we know, right,
that is one of that was one of the doubts within
the mini split world. Right. It was, hey, you
know, can they really heat down to those cold
temperatures? Right. I'm still comfortable using
my furnace or I'm still comfortable using my
conventional air handler unit. Well, we've kind
of tackled that by improving our products to
operate to operations down to minus 13 in our
standard tier product. And even as low as minus
22 F in our higher tier products that can still
provide 100 percent heating. down to those minus
4f minus 5f uh temperatures so a little bit of
a background there yeah yeah it's pretty crazy
the way that we've been able to you know advance
the the equipment to produce that amount of heat
of those lower ambient temperatures you know
when we're talking about like some of those options
as we start getting into the higher tier products
one i thought was very interesting was uh the
frost wash tell me a little bit about that feature
I'll speak on that feature of frost wash. So
that's one of our key things that we patent.
We're the only ones that have the true frost
wash. What we did with our 410A, which was our
previous product, then we came out with this
new R32 product. And with the old 410A, we still
had the great benefit of the frost wash and got
rid of about 99 % of bacteria. We mean molds
and bacterias and stuff like that. But Sam, being
our DFS product engineer, he wanted to take it
another step further. So by taking that another
step forward with our R32 product, we incorporated
at the very beginning of it, it is a hot sequence
of it's going to now heat the indoor heat exchanger
to harden up all of those oils and stuff that
we just produce as human beings, right? We have
oils that are coming off of us and the skin and
stuff like that we shed, right? So we are now
going to use that heating part at the beginning
of it. And we're going to harden up all of those
oils and stuff like that. And then we're going
to go into the freezing part where we freeze
the entire heat exchanger. Then we go into a
melting part of it where we wash all of that
off. With the 400, it's a manual. Right. So they
still get that same type of benefit, even though
it's, you know, like Sam kind of referred to
it as an entry tier. It's manual. So the customer
has to manually put it in that feature. Cross
wash mode. That's correct. OK. When you get to
the six and the eight hundred, it's auto. OK.
So it's based off of run hours of that equipment.
Oh, sure. Also, with the 600 and the 800, not
only does it auto -frost wash the indoor heat
exchanger, we're even concentrating on your outdoor
heat exchanger. So we'll do frost wash on your
outdoor heat exchanger as well if you're in those
temperature guidelines in order to do it. So
during the summertime, if it's really hot outside,
the system itself recognizes, hey, it's hot.
I can't go into this certain feature for the
outdoor frost wash because then I would start
losing control of the space that I'm trying to
condition. So it will set that off until it gets
into those temperatures and then it will execute
that. Also, what we enhanced on the outdoor frost
wash is what we call DuraSpin. So we know that
we get grass clippings when we mow our yards.
There could be construction or just a storm goes
by and we have all this dust in the air. Well,
all that dust gets trapped into that heat exchanger.
Sure. If I was to freeze that and then melt it
off, that dust now turns into mud. So with DuraSpin,
we run the fan motor backwards. at a high rate
of speed and blow out all of that loose particle
dust and dirt, then it will freeze that heat
exchanger and wash it off. Because the last thing
we want to do is create a problem. We're trying
to help with cleaning the heat exchanger. By
the indoor frost wash, as well as the outdoor
frost wash, that's where we separate ourselves
in the industry out there of maintaining our
sear rating and our efficiencies on that type
of equipment. So most people at homes, they never
clean their heat exchangers, right? And with
the indoor frost wash, the old way of cleaning
your indoor heat exchangers was getting that
big blue bag that you put up underneath that
fan coil. And now I'm introducing all this water
into somebody's house on the wall. Me as a homeowner,
I'm like, wait a minute. What do you got going
on here? That looks very scary in a potential
accident waiting to happen. Well, that's been
one of the biggest concerns as we're trying to
encourage customers and even ourselves to go
to ductless systems is the maintenance on them,
right? It's a different maintenance type of work.
And for some applications, it's a difficult procedure,
especially if we're introducing water into an
area where we definitely don't want to take any
chances. You know, we put a ductless system into
a room that's got computers, got electronics.
One of the last things I want to do is tell my
customer that I'm bringing a garden hose in.
right? Just the thought of it gets scary to people.
And so that has been an obstacle in the industry.
And I love how we're doing the reverse airflow
on the outdoor unit. I can remember, you know,
as a refrigeration technician, one of the first
times I encountered that, I had a small Coca
-Cola cooler. I think it was manufactured by
Beverage Air at the time. And it had a reversing
condenser fan on it. And I can tell you, in comparison
to the rest of the equipment sitting right next
to it, that condenser very rarely needed cleaning
in comparison to the traditional coils. So adding
that extra maintenance feature is a huge, huge
asset over things that don't use that technology.
So kudos for doing that on the outdoor and using
the frost wash on both sides. I mean, that saves
a lot in the maintenance side of things. Absolutely.
Yeah, very, very cool. All right, so let's talk
about some of the connectability, too, as well
with the AirHome. Our entry product has optional
interfaces for end users, so it doesn't come
with the unit. Again, it's an entry -tier product,
right? But it is an optional accessory you can
purchase. Now, all our units do come with their
own handheld remote controller right out of the
box, right? So there's no issues there. So they'll
be able to control and do whatever they need
to do with the system from that standpoint. But
if they want to be able to control this product
from anywhere around the world, right, we have
our own proprietary Wi -Fi app, what we call
our AirCloud Go. So for the entry tier, it's
an optional accessory. For the mid -tier and
high -tier, it comes standard with the units.
And these apps are a little bit unique. They're
a little bit different than what you see out
in the market. I can name a couple of points.
So the apps, of course, most do have, you know.
amazon alexa so they do have that integration
in them of course you can control the system
anywhere on the world as long as you have that
wi -fi connectivity of the system in your home
but they also have other neat features like they
have an energy monitoring system right now i'm
not going to say you're going to use that as
a billing feature but you can use that to be
able to give you an estimate of how much energy
you're consuming right throughout throughout
the month or the day or the week because a lot
of us right we know ac systems or hvac systems
pull a lot of energy for most of your electrical
uh consumption throughout the month the day or
the week so if you feel like hey if i'm if i'm
hitting 68 69 uh f cooling right and i'm wasting
let's say 30 kwh kilowatts per hour right a month
but if i keep it at 72 yes i'm sacrificing a
little of my comfort but i'm keeping now at 20
kwh every month You're saving a big chunk on
your electrical bill, and you're able to verify
that using that AirCloud Go app. Additionally,
it has something like energy efficiency part
of it, which what it does is it has what's called
a Geo fencing or they call it like yeah geo fencing
location So based on whether you're coming from
home or leaving home, right? Whether you're going
to work or going to school or coming back going
to the grocery store, etc The system is going
to adjust your temperature to be able to give
you that extra bump and energy efficiency, right?
So let's say you have it in cooling mode and
you go to work and it knows it's you're gonna
be gone for eight hours Right. It's based on
a certain radius of your location to the system
Then it'll adjust it by two degrees, three degrees
higher in cooling, just so you're saving that
energy. And as soon as you start coming back,
it'll adjust it again. So as soon as you walk
in your door, you're back to your set point.
You're comfortable. You didn't even realize the
system changed, but you're saving money at the
same time. So our AirCloud Go app has a lot of
those neat features integrated. And as well as
being able to control frosh, wash, and all that
good stuff, you can do it through the app as
well. So those are some of the neat interfaces
that we have for the users. I love having the
analytics like that. You know, if you think about
that as a homeowner, right? You know, hey, hey,
Billy, when I get home from work every day, this
house seems awfully cold. And are you messing
with this thermostat during the day? No, no,
no. No, never touched it. No. And then you pull
the report and you go, oh, why is our KW usage
going up at 2 p .m. every Monday through Friday
and going back down at 430 before I get home,
right? And how many of us have left our homes
and thought as we're. Two, three miles down the
road. Did I change that? I still left it at 68
degrees. It's going to automatically make that
adjustment when it sees looking through that
eye sensor in the bottom left -hand corner. Oh,
there's nobody in the room. Right. And it's going
to make those adjustments. Plus, with the geofencing,
it's seeing that you have left that area, that
radius that it's monitoring. Very, very cool.
I know another feature that I'd seen, which I
have not encountered in other ductless systems,
is when we get into air filtration, even some
of the carbon filters you're utilizing in air
filtration. Tell me a little bit about that one.
Yeah, I could tackle it. Yeah. So, yeah, we do
have carbon filters and stainless steel mesh
filters, all with standard with our with our
mini split products. Right. Oh, so carbon filters,
as you know, it's removing about. those small
micron particles. So again, on top of the frosh
wash, you're getting an extra bump in that indoor
air quality using this carbon filter on the indoor
side. So you're able to get a lot of the bacteria.
You're able to get a lot of the viruses, a lot
of the mold. A lot of that stuff gets kind of
taken care of from the carbon filter side as
well as from the frosh wash. So you're kind of
doing like a double -sided kind of sword, right?
You're taking care of both ends. You're tackling
it from both sides. Additionally, we have the
stainless steel. filter which is pretty neat
because you know a lot of these filters right
you know usually you have to take them out and
as soon as you take them out they get damaged
and when you start cleaning them they get damaged
and etc and then you have to replace it that's
a more cost for the end users with these filters
stainless steel they're sturdy enough right that
you can just throw them in like a wash a dishwasher
No way. And you can just throw them in there.
They'll clean them. You'll clean them. They won't
get damaged. And then you can dry them up, put
them back into your unit and you're ready to
go. Do you know how many of these, I was a service
tech here in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex
for 20 years. You know how many of these I've
had to replace because we've washed them out
a couple of times and now they got big holes
going through them. This is all stainless steel.
So, I mean, you can flex this thing, twist it
all up. You're not damaging any of that steel.
You can throw these in your washing machine and
clean them off yourself and then slot them all
right back in. And then this is the spot that
that little carbon filter piece is going to go
through. Excellent. All right. I want one. Where
can we learn more about Hitachi Air Home? So
you can come to my facility here that we're doing
this podcast from in Irving, Texas. We're about
15 minutes away from DFW Airport, which is one
of the main hub airports in North America. I
offer classes. We have all this product. I have
a 5 ,000 square foot lab that we have all of
our residential, lot commercial, as well as our
three -phase commercial. um we have our air to
water we have all of our equipment in my lab
i teach classes on these on a weekly basis and
so we invite anybody to come down you can go
and sign up for training on vrf pro so it's my
training website you make an account on there
and you can sign up for any classes come down
here to texas and give us a visit All right.
And I can personally vouch for that. I've been
down there. It's an amazing facility. I encourage
you all to check it out and learn more at HitachiAirCon
.com. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today.
Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us.