Heat pump installation, service and repair in Ottawa

An honest answer: a cold-climate unit keeps heating at -30, but not at full strength, and Ottawa asks that question more often than most Canadian cities. A proper cold-climate heat pump holds close to its rated output down to about -15 and keeps delivering useful heat, at reduced capacity, to -25 or -30. Ottawa gets a January average around -10 and a run of nights each winter well below -20, so for most houses here the heat pump does the bulk of the season on its own and something else covers the worst week or two. In a hybrid system that something is the gas furnace. In an all-electric system it is a bank of electric resistance strips, which work but cost a lot to run and need panel capacity.

The heat pumps that earned a poor reputation in Ontario years ago were not cold-climate models; the difference is in the compressor and refrigerant, and it is the first thing to check on any cheap quote. Expect heat that is steady and lower in temperature than a furnace blast; the house holds an even temperature rather than swinging between cold and hot.

For most houses in the Ottawa region with a gas furnace, the right system is both. The heat pump handles the fall, the spring and ordinary winter days. The furnace takes over automatically when the outdoor temperature falls below the balance point, which is set at installation from current Enbridge gas and Ontario electricity prices and can be moved from the thermostat as rates change. You keep the furnace you own, the heat pump qualifies for the rebates, and the outdoor unit doubles as central air conditioning.

If the furnace is also near the end of its life, the two can go in together as a matched system, often for less than two separate jobs.

Ottawa summers are short but sticky, and the heat pump is how we handle cooling: in July it runs as a high-efficiency air conditioner, drying and cooling the house through the same ducts the furnace uses. For many homes it replaces a central air conditioner that was due anyway, at a modest premium for a unit that heats as well. If what you want is straightforward air conditioning without the heating side, ask when you call.

A ducted heat pump uses the furnace ductwork: one outdoor unit, one coil on the furnace or an air handler, and the whole house is heated and cooled from the thermostat. A ductless mini-split pairs an outdoor unit with one or more wall-mounted heads and needs no ducts at all. That suits the radiator-heated homes of the Glebe, Sandy Hill and Old Ottawa South, the room over the garage in a Kanata two-storey that never gets comfortable, a finished attic, or a basement apartment. Homes with boilers often add a mini-split for summer cooling and shoulder-season heat and keep the boiler for January.

Typical 2026 installed prices in the Ottawa area: a single-zone ductless mini-split from about $4,500; a cold-climate ducted heat pump added to an existing furnace as a hybrid system, or replacing an air conditioner, $7,500 to $14,000; a whole-home ducted system with a new air handler and electric backup sits at the top of that range or above it. The house size, the electrical panel (a new 240-volt circuit is normal, a panel upgrade is sometimes needed), the length of the refrigerant lines and where the outdoor unit can sit all move the number, and every quote is in writing. Running cost at current Ontario rates is close to a 96 percent furnace in mild weather and higher in a deep freeze, which is exactly why the hybrid switches. Full detail is in what a heat pump costs in Ontario and the comparison in heat pump vs furnace in Ontario.

Heat pumps are where the rebate money in Ontario is pointed. The Enbridge Home Efficiency Rebate Plus program pays for qualifying cold-climate heat pumps after an NRCan-registered energy audit before and after the work; the Canada Greener Homes Loan offers interest-free financing for the same retrofits; and the City of Ottawa Better Homes Ottawa loan program lets eligible homeowners repay the cost through their property taxes. Each has its own rules and all of them change, so we confirm what is open at the time of the quote, book the work in the order the program requires and handle the paperwork. The rebates guide keeps the current list.

A heat pump works twelve months of the year, so it needs an annual service: coils washed, refrigerant pressures and charge checked, the defrost cycle tested, the condensate drain cleared, electrical connections tightened, the capacitor and contactor tested, filters changed. It can be booked with a furnace tune-up as one visit. We repair all makes of ducted and ductless heat pump: capacitors, contactors, fan motors, reversing valves, sensors, boards and refrigerant leaks. Refrigerant work in Ontario must be done by a licensed refrigeration mechanic, and it is.