Retrofitting Central Air Heat Pump Challenges in Toronto

Retrofitting a central air heat pump in Toronto presents some serious challenges in most of the Toronto homes. Central air heat pump challenges lie in outdated ductwork in most of Toronto homes.

With some adjustments we can retrofit heat pump components into almost any existing ductwork. That part of the ductwork is adjacent to the furnace or the air handler. But the remaining ductwork, the one that carries heated air to the periphery of the house, is hopelessly undersized for heat pump operations.

The picture above is a snapshot from from an old furnace specs. Those furnaces are gone, but the ductwork is still there. As you can see from the specs, the furnace was designed to raise the air temperature by 100 F when the air was going through the furnace. And the ductwork was designed accordingly.

Unfortunately, all that we can get from a central air heat pump is 30 F or so temperature rise. Accordingly, to distribute the same amount of heat we’d need 3 times wider ductwork. That’s why we usually advise our customers to switch to furnace heat, when the outdoor temperature goes below freezing. As the outdoor temperature goes down, the house needs more heat and a gas furnace takes over.

As upgrading the ductwork is not an option most of the time, a good solution is improving house insulation. Putting as much insulation as you can into the attic, upgrading doors, windows, wall insulation. Stucco gives a very good result too. All that will help you to lower down the switch over temperature from the heat pump to the furnace.

If it’s only a few rooms of the house that don’t get enough heat, then installing a ductless mini split heat pump is the best solution since the ductless heat pump cost will be, most likely, less than other alternatives.

All in in all, while retrofitting a central air heat pump in Toronto is not always straight forward, it can be done with great improvements to energy efficiency and comfort of living.