PHOENIX — A housing complex in Oswego County is one of the first properties to use a new, locally assembled heat-pump system. The effort targets Christopher Court, a 40-unit complex at 22 Maplehurst Drive in Phoenix that is home to 60 people. Christopher Court is a property of Rock Property Management Company (Rock PMC), also […]
PHOENIX — A housing complex in Oswego County is one of the first properties to use a new, locally assembled heat-pump system.
The effort targets Christopher Court, a 40-unit complex at 22 Maplehurst Drive in Phoenix that is home to 60 people. Christopher Court is a property of Rock Property Management Company (Rock PMC), also based in Phoenix.
The heat-pump systems are called HydroPods, and Patrick Rock, owner of Rock PMC, describes them as “all-in-one heating, hot water, heat exchange systems.”
“I think we’re on our third of five buildings, so four [HydroPods] have successfully been installed and actively being used. We’re working on a few more this week, and the remainder will happen before Christmas,” Rock told CNYBJ in a Nov. 25 phone interview.
TK Fabricate of Syracuse manufactured the HydroPods for Christopher Court. The HydroPods will incorporate a high efficiency heating, cooling, and hot water system, and add “continuous ventilation to the apartments that will improve indoor air quality throughout the buildings,” per a May 22 Rock PMC announcement about the project.
Christopher Court has five buildings, each with eight units, and the structures will have one HydroPod per four units.
“So each building’s getting two, and there’ll be 10 total,” Rock told CNYBJ.
Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) awarded TK Fabricate $10,000 through its Innovation Fund to help in the manufacturing and installation of the HydroPod XL, per a December, 2023 announcement on the Syracuse University news website.
“I created this to improve air quality and comfort for residential tenants, as well as to ease the installation and maintenance processes for building owners,” Tom King, owner of TK Fabricate, said in the Rock PMC announcement. “Our hope is that the successful pilot project stirs new interest in the product, which has the potential to make a significant impact across New York State. We’d love to see the number of projects that use the HydroPod double next year in 2025.”
King created the HydroPod concept in 2019, and both federal and state initiatives are supporting the technology. The initiatives include the Advanced Building Construction Collaborative and NYSERDA’s Advanced Buildings Program. Besides Christopher Court, the product also launched this year at other residential properties in Syracuse, per the Rock PMC announcement. TK Fabricate tested a prototype at the SyracuseCoE.
Partners in the $4 million project include NYSERDA’s RetrofitNY program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. NYSERDA is the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The project also received supporting loan funds from the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC).
In addition to TK Fabricate, other partners for this project include Syracuse–based King + King Architects, Ithaca–based Taitem Engineering — which assisted Rock Property Management in receiving NYSERDA funding — and Watertown–based Purcell Construction, bringing it all together by implementing the retrofit.
“With the installation of these heat pumps, the Pods, we have continuous air flow. So, that is a huge benefit in terms of air quality … We should be enjoying much better air quality and avoiding moisture issues. Yes, we’re delivering a more efficient heating and cooling source,” says Rock.
