In 2022, California announced that it wanted to install 6 million heat pumps by 2030. So far, it has only installed about 2.3 millionwhich means that to reach this goal, it will need to average about 2,000 installations per day for the next five years. Achieving this goal can be difficult, considering that a typical mini split can take about a day to install and cost about $4,000 to $6,000 per zone. according to in EnergySage.
“We need to do something different,” Merino Energy co-founder and CEO Mary-Ann Rau told TechCrunch.
Merino Energyoperating in secrecy, wants to change both parts of the equation by dramatically simplifying the heat pump. The startup gave TechCrunch an exclusive look at its new product, the Merino Mono, which costs $3,800, including a one-hour installation process.
Rau used to work at Apple, where you may have seen her at a keynote or two introducing new AirPodsand Quilt, another heat pump startup. While at Apple, she worked to electrify her home in San Francisco. He installed solar panels, an induction stove and an EV charger, but when it came time to install heat pumps, Rau “pressed absolute sticker shock.”
“That’s when I realized that if it was out of reach for me — right, I’m privileged — it’s out of reach for the vast majority of Californians and Americans,” he said.
Standard heat pumps have two parts, an internal heat exchanger and an external condenser. The Merino combines these into a unit that takes up as much space as a standard under-window refrigerator. It plugs into a standard 120-volt outlet, meaning homeowners are less likely to need electrical upgrades. “If you can plug in a microwave and it works in that outlet, then the Merino Mono will work in that outlet,” Rau said.
The Mono has all the usual elements expected of the new generation of heat pumps: It’s Wi-Fi connected, it can sense when people are in the room, and different units in a household can coordinate their operation for efficiency and comfort. Rau said the company is even developing an integration with Oura Rings so that the heat pump can lower the room temperature by two degrees when the user is in REM sleep.
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To install the Mono, workers cut two holes in the wall, one to draw in air and one to exhaust it. The air in this loop flows over coils for the condenser, which then send refrigerant to the heat exchanger. There, another loop draws air from the room to heat or cool it. The only things visible from the outside of the house are the intake and exhaust ports and a condensate pipe.
By moving all the components into a single unit inside the house, the Merino design is much simpler to install, Rau said. There is no external unit to connect to an internal one, which may involve soldering copper lines and charging with refrigerant. “They are very expensive from a labor perspective,” he said.
In making the system smaller, Merino has traded off some efficiency, which can make the product more suitable for smaller living spaces. The Merino Mono has a SEER2 rating of 15.2, while the two-zone Quilt system reaches 25. Large outdoor condensers just do a better job. But the startup felt that for many applications, including apartments and apartment buildings in dense urban areas, it made sense to keep everything indoors and as streamlined as possible. Mono, Rau said, “is a solution where the cost is commensurate with the problem we’re trying to solve.”
The company is currently installing 48 heat pumps at Civic Center Apartments, a low-income development in Richmond, California. For now, it is focused on California as an initial market, although it has plans to expand to other states such as Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. So far, six installers have signed up in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The company is taking pre-orders now for delivery later this year.
Rau hopes the simplified product will help heat pumps take over the market. “If we can reduce the time and complexity of installing a heat pump, then we can scale adoption,” he said.
