Ammonia-based Heat Pump

From buildings to backyards: Ammonia, scaled.

An ammonia and water-based refrigerant system to heat homes more efficiently.

  • 8 Years of partnership
  • UL & CSA Certifications
  • 2 Scaled system formats

Designed to meet UL and CSA guidelines

Key Features:

  • Embedded control for refrigerants
    Startup and monitoring logic manages ammonia behavior in cold temperatures, helping the system operate efficiently in challenging conditions.

  • Remote monitoring and updates
    Cellular connectivity lets each system share status data and receive software upgrades. Teams can monitor units across the field without needing hands-on access.

  • Electrical and mechanical design for safety
    Circuit spacing, insulation, and airflow were engineered to manage pressure and temperature shifts, meeting UL approval for safety.

Results that make a difference

  • Real visibility into field issues
    A cellular card tracks faults as they occur and sends them back to the team. This makes software updates faster and helps dealers respond before small issues turn into downtime.

  • Faster path to certification
    We designed with UL and CSA requirements in mind from the beginning, helping accelerate safety evaluations and approval steps.

  • More homes, same safety
    We adapted the control system from commercial to residential form factors, preserving protections while reducing cost and complexity.

Project Overview

A scalable ammonia system for cold-climate heat pumps
Ammonia is a high-efficiency refrigerant, but it’s difficult to manage outside of industrial environments. Anesi set out to harness its benefits for cold-climate heat pumps. First in commercial buildings, and eventually in homes.

28 Gorilla joined early, in 2017, to help build efficiency into the system’s foundation. We engineered the electrical, mechanical, firmware and software layers to regulate the refrigerant's behavior and meet certification requirements.

The Challenge

Improving performance with precision control

Ammonia is efficient and inexpensive, yet its behavior can vary with temperature and pressure changes. These shifts can affect sensors or lead to inconsistent performance during cold starts.

Our Approach

Turn precision engineering into scalable performance

28 Gorilla partnered with Anesi to create a control system that could maintain stable, predictable operation across a wide range of conditions. We modeled system behavior, refined cold-start performance, and designed the control architecture to meet UL and CSA requirements.

Up close with capabilities

Skills & equipment used

  • Industrial product design

  • Electrical engineering design

  • Mechanical engineering

  • Firmware development

  • Software product development

  • Product concept development

Defense product design
We often work side by side with 29Tech, our integrated manufacturing partner, to ensure every design is ready to build without delays or guesswork.

Let’s scale systems together.