Variable Refrigerant Flow, or VRF HVAC systems, has been the HVAC system of choice in Europe, Japan, China and other parts of the world for quite some time. Over the past 5 to 10 years, VRF HVAC technology has become increasingly popular in the US and especially in large urban areas like New York City.

Like traditional central air conditioning systems used for residential and light commercial spaces, VRF HVAC systems are air-cooled and refrigerant-based, using outdoor condenser units and indoor fan coil units. But the similarity stops there.

Instead of one large, noisy unit pumping out air to the whole space, a VRF HVAC system features several smaller air handlers that can be individually controlled and piped back to one system. The term variable refrigerant flow, or VRF, refers to the system’s ability to control the amount of refrigerant flowing to each of these small air handlers.

This sophisticated new VRF HVAC technology is capable of providing not only cooling, but also heat, and even both simultaneously to different areas within the space. The use of multiple indoor units provides the ability to create zones that can be individually controlled. What’s more, these VRF HVAC systems are very quiet and energy-efficient because the variable-speed compressor runs only at the capacity needed for the current conditions.