Good dwelling startup Quilt launched a three-zone warmth pump on Tuesday that guarantees to take care of effectivity even within the sorts of demanding situations that stymie conventional incumbents.
The three-zone unit does what it says on the label: One outside unit is now able to driving three indoor heads, as they’re recognized within the HVAC world. It’s a product that may make massive installations easier and cheaper whereas minimizing the footprint exterior the house, and it’s key to the startup’s plans for growth, which had been just lately turbocharged by a $20 million Sequence B centered on increasing gross sales.
However the actual story is how Quilt developed the brand new product.
Since its founding, Quilt has prided itself on the quantity of information it collects from its warmth pumps. Not solely are they internet-connected, they’re additionally laced with extra sensors than typical warmth pumps.
By analyzing that information, Quilt engineers have been in a position to do issues that different corporations haven’t. In September, for instance, they shipped an over-the-air replace to warmth pumps in folks’s houses that unlocked a further 20% capability, which may very well be directed towards both one or two zones. With the free replace, folks may very well be extra snug throughout warmth waves and chilly snaps.
The staff additionally used the information to develop the brand new three-zone unit and, within the course of, clear up a vexing problem that many opponents face.
Like all warmth pumps, multi-zone models work greatest once they’re run at variable velocity — that’s, when heating or cooling demand is low, the compressor runs at a decrease velocity to ship solely the quantity of heating or cooling that’s wanted.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
However there are limits to how low they’ll function. Compressors turn out to be much less steady at low speeds, making them tougher to regulate. Matthew Knoll, co-founder and CTO at Quilt, compares it to driving a automobile a low speeds. Sustaining a good 70 mph is less complicated than a gradual 11 mph. “It’s slightly tougher,” he mentioned.
To compensate, most techniques cease the compressor at a sure level, sacrificing some effectivity and luxury within the course of.
Quilt, although, was ready to attract on information collected from the thousand or so models already put in in folks’s houses and companies, giving them insights into how the techniques had been working in the actual world.
“The best way most techniques are developed, they’re examined in a lab below a pair eventualities as a result of testing’s costly. And you find yourself with form of a a median product,” Knoll mentioned.
“We have now a thousand models on the market in many alternative climates, and if we see one thing, we will take a look at it throughout a bunch of various models to grasp if there’s room to optimize or if we’re seeing an issue in a nook case,” he mentioned
The corporate additionally makes use of a bigger copper coil than many opponents, which permits it to spec a smaller compressor. That mixture, together with another tweaks to the design, permits Quilt to ship practically 90% of its rated capability (27,000 BTUs) at -13˚ F (-25˚ C) with out sacrificing low-demand efficiency or effectivity. Quilt says it’s probably the most environment friendly three-zone mini-split available on the market.
To save lots of energy, every indoor head could be managed individually, supplying as little as 2,210 BTUs of warmth or 1,570 BTUs of cooling. If heating or cooling isn’t wanted, refrigerant nonetheless flows via the traces prefer it does in different warmth pumps. However because of the outside unit’s low-speed efficiency, it solely releases round 300 BTUs of warmth in heating mode. That’s about as a lot warmth as a grown grownup throws off.
The place does Quilt go from right here? Knoll wouldn’t touch upon future plans aside from to say that Quilt “desires to have the ability to have an answer for all houses.” Extra merchandise are coming, and it’s seemingly that reams of information will assist lead their growth.
