Heat Pumps in Smithville, ON

A heat pump is one machine that heats your house in winter and cools it in summer. That is the whole idea, and it has made heat pumps the most argued-about equipment in HVAC.

This page is for you if you are replacing an aging furnace or air conditioner. It is also for you if you have heard a heat pump cannot cope with an Ontario winter and you want a straight answer.

Do Heat Pumps Work in an Ontario Winter?

Yes, if you fit a cold-climate model. The standard heat pumps sold ten years ago did struggle in real cold, and that is where the doubt comes from.

Natural Resources Canada says cold-climate heat pumps keep working down to -30°C. (1) That figure comes from the federal government, not from a brochure.

Now the part we would rather you hear from us than discover in February. Below about -10°C to -15°C, most houses want a second heat source as backup. That is how these systems are designed to run. We plan the backup with you instead of pretending you will not need one.

If someone tells you heat pumps do not work in Canada, they are describing equipment from fifteen years ago.

How Much More Efficient a Heat Pump Is

Efficiency is the whole reason to switch. Natural Resources Canada gives three figures, depending on what you are replacing. (1)

• Up to 3 times more efficient than an oil furnace or boiler
• Up to 3.5 times more efficient than a gas furnace
• Up to 2.5 times more efficient than electric baseboards or an electric furnace

Three times more efficient means a dollar of electricity gives you about three dollars of heat. A furnace burns fuel to make heat, so a dollar of gas can only ever give you a dollar of heat. A heat pump does not make heat. It moves heat that is already in the outside air, and moving it costs less than making it.

The gap is widest against oil and electric baseboards, which is no accident. Those two fuels cost the most to run, and they are the two which Ontario’s free heat pump program is built around.

Heat Pump Installation

Sizing a heat pump is a different job from sizing a furnace, because one machine has to suit your heating load in January and your cooling load in July.

Three things shape the work: whether your existing ducts can carry the air, whether your electrical panel has enough capacity, and where the outdoor unit will sit.

The panel question deserves an answer on the first visit, not a surprise halfway through the job. Some older Smithville homes need panel work before a heat pump can go in, and we would rather tell you that before we start.

We handle sizing and fitting a heat pump for houses switching from any fuel.

Heat Pump Repair

A heat pump has a few failure points a furnace does not, because it does two jobs instead of one.

The usual faults are a refrigerant leak, a failed reversing valve, or a control board fault. The reversing valve is the part that flips the system between heating and cooling.

We find the fault before we quote, the same as on every repair call. You know what you are dealing with before anyone commits to anything.

Long lanes and rural driveways are part of the job here. They matter more in January than in July, so we plan for that when a no-heat call comes in from West Lincoln.

More on what usually goes wrong and how we fix it.

Heat Pump Maintenance

Your heat pump runs twelve months a year instead of four. That is why a yearly service matters more here than it does on a furnace.

A service visit covers the coils, the refrigerant charge, the electrical connections, and the defrost cycle. The defrost cycle is what melts frost off the outdoor unit in winter so it keeps drawing heat.

Skip it and you pay for it. The equipment works harder, for longer, than an air conditioner ever does.

Book us for a yearly service that earns its keep.

Cold-Climate Heat Pumps

Not every heat pump is a cold-climate model, and the difference matters more here than almost anywhere else in Canada.

A cold-climate heat pump keeps pulling heat out of the outdoor air at temperatures that shut a standard model down. That is why a heat pump works in Smithville and not only in milder places.

We fit Mitsubishi Electric Zuba and Bosch cold-climate systems, and we have converted 174 homes so far. Those are the two brands we chose to specialize in. We are glad to tell you why on the phone, rather than tell you what to avoid.

Rebates and What We File For You

There is real money available, from two separate programs. People mix them up, so here’s a summary.

Ontario’s Home Renovation Savings Program gives up to $7,500 back on a cold-climate air source heat pump. (2)

Save on Energy’s Energy Affordability Program is a different program. It offers a free cold-climate heat pump to households on a low enough income who heat with electric baseboards or oil. (3) It is not for everyone. Whether you qualify depends on your household income and your current fuel, so check rather than assume either way.

That second program matters most out toward West Lincoln and Haldimand. Many houses there have no gas line, and electric and oil are the two fuels it targets.

We have filed over $1 million in rebates across those 174 conversions. Most people give up on the paperwork, but we’ll handle it for you.

You can also see the rebates we file on your behalf laid out in full.

What a Heat Pump Costs to Run, Not to Buy

We do not put prices on a website. The cost depends on your house, and a number given without seeing it is a guess, not a quote.

Four things move the price: the size of your home, what you heat with now, the condition of your ducts, and your electrical panel. Which rebates you qualify for matters too.

The number worth watching is the running cost. A heat pump costs more to buy than a repair, and less to run than almost anything it replaces.

We’re currently offering $2,500 off Bosch heat pumps and air conditioners.

Getting the Timing Right

One heat pump replaces both a furnace and an air conditioner. The best time to switch is when either one is near the end anyway.

Natural Resources Canada gives a heat pump the same lifespan as a furnace, 15 to 20 years. (4) So if you are already facing a decision on one machine, get a price for the other at the same time.

Book a spring or autumn install if you are switching by choice. A January breakdown is a poor time to compare brands for the first time.

If you are deciding whether a heat pump suits your house

Call us and tell us what you heat with now. We will tell you whether a heat pump makes sense for your house, what it would replace, and what you are likely to qualify for.

We hold the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic 313A alongside our TSSA certifications, and we have been converting Niagara homes since 2014. See everything else we handle in Smithville and beyond, from furnaces and gas lines to air quality and water heaters.

References

1. Natural Resources Canada, Heat pump basics, natural-resources.canada.ca
2. Save on Energy / Enbridge Gas, Home Renovation Savings Program, saveonenergy.ca
3. Save on Energy, Energy Affordability Program — Air Source Heat Pumps, saveonenergy.ca
4. Natural Resources Canada, Heating and cooling with a heat pump, natural-resources.canada.ca