Project Profile: AshKay Island

Andy Bobo, co-owner, CMR Mechanical, Dexter, Michigan, always provides his customers with effective solutions to efficiently cool and heat their homes. However, when it came to installing a cooling and heating system in his 100 percent off-grid vacation cottage, Bobo faced a challenge. The 1,700-square-foot home located on AshKay Island is an eight-acre property off Iron Mill Pond in Manchester, Michigan.

He needed to find an energy-efficient system that could cool the entire house during the summer but also serve as a backup heat source during the winter season. Knowing how efficient and flexible it could be, Bobo selected our Zoned Comfort Solutions^™ to do the job.

Not only did the system need to provide comfort for guests, it also needed to be as energy-efficient as possible since the house is completely off-grid. Bobo said, “We have 30 Mitsubishi Electric solar panels on the roof. It’s the heart of the system for electricity; therefore, I needed to find a super-efficient [cooling and heating] system that could run off of the energy produced by the solar panels. Ultimately, I needed the right-size system that could cool and heat the house without using too much battery power.”

With the cottage also built on a deck platform, storage for any cooling and heating system would pose an additional challenge. When Bobo saw the amount of ductwork that would be necessary to accommodate a traditional system, zoned technology offered a clear advantage, and for Bobo selecting zoned technology was synonymous with selecting our system.

He said, “As a business owner, I’ve been a Diamond Contractor^™ for five years and I wanted to show my customers that I use the products that I sell.” He also said having Mitsubishi Electric solar panels helped solidify his decision: “The fact that I was able to pair Mitsubishi Electric solar panels with Mitsubishi Electric heat pumps topped it off. When it’s really hot out, the solar panels can collect a ton of solar energy, push it into the batteries and then transfer energy to the heat pump to cool the entire house.”

By selecting our Zoned Comfort Solutions, Bobo would get the best of both worlds – he would be able to install a system that best suits the aesthetics of the home, achieve energy efficiency and offer his guests a comfortable stay.