Cozy Castle HVAC · Toronto & the GTA
Heat Pumps in Toronto & the GTA
A cold-climate heat pump heats your home in winter and cools it in summer. We install it with a gas furnace as backup, with an electric air handler for an all-electric home, or as ductless units for homes with no ductwork. Rebates of up to $7,500 can cover a big part of the cost.
- Installed by our own crews
- Approved Home Renovation Savings contractor
- We handle the rebate paperwork
What is an air source heat pump?
A heat pump doesn’t burn fuel to make heat. It moves heat from one place to another. In summer it works exactly like an air conditioner, taking heat out of your home and releasing it outside. In winter it runs in reverse and pulls heat from the outdoor air into your home, even when it’s well below freezing.
Most heat pumps in Toronto homes are air source heat pumps: an outdoor unit that looks like an air conditioner, connected to your ducts or to wall-mounted indoor units. So the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner is simple: an air conditioner only cools, and a heat pump cools and heats.
Three ways to heat with a heat pump
With a gas furnace (dual fuel). The heat pump heats your home for most of the winter and cools it in summer. When it gets too cold outside, the furnace takes over. You can keep your current furnace, or replace it at the same time as the heat pump. This is called a dual fuel or hybrid system.
All-electric, with an air handler. No furnace at all. The heat pump connects to an electric air handler, which moves the air through your ducts and has built-in electric heat for the coldest days. It suits homes leaving gas, propane or oil behind.
Ductless, for homes with no ductwork. For homes heated by baseboards, boilers or radiators, we install ductless mini-splits, with one or more indoor units. We work with several brands, so we can match what you’re looking for.
With a furnace, the thermostat decides which one runs. It switches by outdoor temperature: above the switch-over temperature the heat pump heats your home, and below it the furnace takes over. With propane or oil, the heat pump is cheaper almost all the time, so the switch-over goes as low as your heat pump allows. With natural gas, the two cost about the same over a year, so the switch-over can be set for comfort. We set it for your fuel and electricity plan when we install, and you can change it any time on the thermostat, in a minute, to suit your own comfort or savings.
Why the heat pump is smaller than your furnace
A typical 2,000 sq ft home in the GTA has a furnace of about 60,000 BTU. The heat pump we install is usually 24,000 to 36,000 BTU, which is 2 to 3 ton. It isn’t meant to replace the furnace on the coldest nights. It carries the house through the rest of the winter, and the furnace takes over when it gets too cold.
How far into the cold the heat pump gets on its own depends far more on your home’s age and insulation than on its size. We checked Natural Resources Canada’s energy audits of about 4,000 detached GTA homes of 1,800 to 2,200 sq ft. An older home can need almost twice as much heat as a newer one of the same size.
When it’s colder than the temperature in the table, your furnace, or the electric heat in an air handler, tops up the heat pump, so you’re never cold.
| Built | Heat needed on a cold night (-18°C) | 3 ton heat pump keeps up on its own down to about |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1946 | 77,000 BTU | -3°C |
| 1946 to 1980 | 57,000 BTU | -8°C |
| 1981 to 2011 | 48,000 BTU | -10°C |
| 2012 or newer | 43,000 BTU | -12°C |
How to read this table. The middle column is how much heat a typical home of that age loses on a -18°C night. Older homes lose more because they have less insulation and more drafts. The last column is how cold it can get outside before a 3 ton heat pump needs help from the backup heat. It counts the free heat a home also gets from sunshine, cooking, appliances and people. Your home may need more or less than these typical homes; we check it at the free visit.
Sources: Natural Resources Canada home energy audits from 2024, and the tested output of a 3 ton cold-climate heat pump we install (Midea EVOX G3).
Lower emissions
Every hour the heat pump runs instead of your furnace, you burn less gas, propane or oil. Most of Ontario’s electricity comes from nuclear and hydro power, so a heat pump cuts your home’s carbon emissions. That’s the goal of the rebate program too.
Heat pump questions
What is a dual fuel or hybrid heat pump?
It’s a heat pump installed with a gas furnace. You can keep your current furnace or replace it at the same time. The heat pump heats your home for most of the winter and cools it in summer. When it gets too cold, or when the furnace is cheaper to run, the furnace takes over, so you always have a second heat source.
What size heat pump do I need?
With natural gas, we size the heat pump for summer cooling and your ductwork, because gas covers the coldest days cheaply. With propane, oil or electric heat, every hour on the heat pump saves money, so we size it for heating, as large as your ductwork can carry. We check your ducts at a free in-home visit.
Is a heat pump worth it in Toronto?
If you heat with propane, oil or electric baseboards, usually yes: a heat pump costs much less to run, and rebates of up to $7,500 cut the price. With natural gas, a heat pump and a gas furnace cost about the same to run over a year, so the gains are a new, efficient air conditioner, a rebate of up to $2,000 and lower emissions. Try the savings calculator with your own fuel and prices.
Does a heat pump work in a Toronto winter?
Yes. The cold-climate heat pumps we install keep heating well below freezing. In lab tests the Midea EVOX G3 3 ton still puts out about 20,000 BTU an hour at -25°C. In a typical 2,000 sq ft home it heats on its own down to about -10°C, and your furnace or backup heat tops it up on colder days.
How do you install the copper lines?
We braze the copper refrigerant lines with nitrogen flowing through them, so no scale forms inside the pipes. Before the system is charged, we vacuum it below 500 microns to pull out air and moisture. Both steps keep the inside of the system clean and dry, which protects the compressor for years. More on our heat pump installation.
Thinking about a heat pump?
Book a free in-home consultation. We’ll check your home and ductwork and give you a written installed price.