Heating and air conditioning is usually pretty boring stuff, done by appliance-like boxes with uninspired designs, from sheet metal outdoor units to cheap plastic indoor mini-slots.
Not Quilt.
The heat pump startup unveiled its first products on Wednesday, and they feature the sleek and smart designs you’d expect from veterans of Apple, Nest, Google and Tesla. Each unit is designed to heat and cool a single room, and there’s an app and a thermostat-like dial from which customers can adjust temperatures throughout their home. In addition, the appearance of the indoor mini-split can be customized. Want your unit to stand out? Specify it with oak veneer. Do you want it combined? The quilt will allow you to paint or wallpaper the front panel to match its surroundings.
While the design is a big part of the appeal, the startup wants to improve the entire heat pump experience. It streamlines the purchase and installation process, with Quilt present at every step of the process, including licensing and installation. Total cost for one zone: $6,499 before rebates.
The price is just above the average installation cost for a single zone heat pump, according in Rewiring America. For open floor plans that can be air conditioned with one unit, the quilt is a very good deal. But for people who want to redo their entire home with the quilt, including every bedroom, the cost will add up, exceeding the average whole-home estimate from Rewiring America.
The quilt is top not only for its design, but also for its functionality. The outdoor unit is rated at a robust 18,000 BTUs and can maintain 90% of its heating capacity down to -13 degrees F. Each indoor unit can pump out 9,000 BTUs, and two can be connected to a single outdoor unit. The refrigerant flowing through the system, R-32, has a lower global warming potential than the more widely used R-410a. The system’s efficiency and performance ratings place it at the higher end of the market.
Additionally with internal and external drives that echo vintage Apple designs, the system is packed with computing power. The Dial, which has a touchscreen and a rotary controller, can control multiple rooms and is compatible with Thread and Matter smart home communication protocols. An app also allows iOS and Android users to control specific points throughout the home and adjust how the system will respond when rooms are unoccupied.
The Sense module, which hangs below the mini split, handles the computing needs for a single zone, including the millimeter-wave occupancy sensor that promises to be more accurate than passive infrared sensors, which can generate false vacancy signals; if people are not moving. This means the comforter should be better at keeping a room warm or cool while watching TV or sleeping.
Quilt’s indoor units are also extremely short, allowing them to be placed over windows and doors, places that customers often request but other mini dividers cannot accommodate. In a fun touch, they also feature color-adaptive accent lighting.
The company is accepting pre-orders starting Wednesday, and installations will begin in the San Francisco Bay Area this summer. Los Angeles residents will follow in the fall, and Quilt will expand to subsequent areas depending on booking demand. Last month, Quilt raised a $33 million round to help bring heat pumps to market. The goal was to transform the company from an “R&D organization” to a “real company,” co-founder and CEO Paul Lambert said at the time.
