These specialized applications require increased insulation, additional parts, and potentially more energy to accomplish their design criteria. This means that all of the air running through the unit is coming entirely from outside and the unit uses no air returning from the inside space.

In these settings, the RTUs installed are known as ‘make-up air units’ or ‘100% dedicated outdoor air units’. However, RTUs can be used in multi-story buildings provided they don’t exceed 10 stories and there is accessible space on the roof and ductwork in place.Īnother fairly common application for RTU HVAC systems is restaurant kitchens. Single-story buildings are best suited, since the conditioned air doesn’t have to travel very far to the living or working space. Everything from a standard office building to a factory is likely to have HVAC units mounted on the roof to provide for proper environmental controls year round. Many commercial or industrial facilities use rooftop units in some capacity. Depending on the size of the building, some facilities will have more than one unit to provide HVAC for different zones.

A basic thermostat typically controls packaged rooftop units, however, they can be a part of a more complex control system depending on the application. Packaged rooftop units typically connect directly to a ductwork system that distributes the conditioned air through the interior space and returns it to the packaged rooftop unit.

Skyscraper rooftop hvac