RHEIA: Enhance Your HVAC with RHEIA® Air Distribution Technology

Installing a traditional HVAC system in a home can be a time-consuming, complicated process for contractors, unnecessarily wasting time, labor, and callbacks. These systems also struggle with inefficiencies that lead to wasted energy and higher utility bills. The Picket Fence project team was able to avoid these issues by choosing Rheia for the home’s HVAC air distribution system.

With its advanced air distribution technology, the Rheia solution reduces energy consumption, making it a more sustainable choice for The Picket Fence. At the end of the day, Rheia provides a more comfortable, efficient home that is cost-effective and future code compliant.

“Rheia is a small-diameter air distribution system installed within the home’s conditioned space,” says Nigel Watts, Vice President, Product at Rheia, LLC. “Its innovative, compact design reduces energy use and lowers HERS Index scores, which is critical to meeting the stringent federal and local tax rebate requirements. Rheia’s compact duct and components are ideally suited to modular homebuilding because they can be easily routed within the home’s structure, saving time and money on the factory floor.”

SAVE ON INSTALLATION TIME

Rheia air distribution systems are designed for simplicity, significantly reducing installation time and costs. Compared to conventional systems, Rheia's easy-install system featuring snap-fit components with integrated air sealing enables crews to be trained in minutes and can save up to 60 percent on installation time, depending on the home's size, type, and location. This efficiency allowed The Picket Fence team to maximize productivity when installing the Rheia system within the modular home’s conditioned space in an offsite factory, resulting in a solution that is clean, sleek, and elegantly simple. 

Routing conventional ducts through a home's structure is often time-consuming, costly, and prone to quality issues. Rheia offers a better solution via compact ducts and engineered fittings that perfectly complement the Open Joist truss system in The Picket Fence. Rheia's innovative approach to HVAC simplifies installation, freeing up space for other mechanical systems to avoid installation quality problems, making Rheia an ideal solution for the modular homebuilding industry.

MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY AND COMFORT

Rheia's air distribution technology offers significant comfort improvements over conventional systems. Rheia systems are installed inside the home's thermal envelope to minimize energy loss and achieve superior room-to-room temperature consistency. The design process right-sizes equipment, which, combined with a home-run duct layout, improves air mixing to minimize hot and cold spots.

Unlike many traditional HVAC systems which require a lot of rework, the Rheia air distribution system helps builders more easily meet the new Energy Star 3.2 requirements to unlock significant federal, state, and utility rebates and incentives.

Homes equipped with Rheia are balanced using an app-based process that confirms the system is performing to the design, resulting in more even temperatures throughout the home—all but eliminating hot and cold spots.

“Rheia features a home-run design approach, which, when combined with the Rheia Verify balancing app, improves comfort and reduces the costly callbacks that plague conventional duct systems,” says Watts.

The air distribution system balances the air in every room of your house while remaining invisible—Rheia was designed to be quiet as whisper, creating a living environment that feels more comfortable, by design.