What I Learned From My First Three Winters With A Heat Pump

Let me cut to the carbon-free chase: I have come to love that moment each month when Enbridge sends an email reminding me to check the gas meter and upload the number, which almost never changes these days. 

My wife and I installed an electric heat pump and a high-efficiency electric water heater (with a tank) in the late summer of 2022. In the 24 months between November 2022 and December 2024, we've used a total of 12 cubic metres of natural gas, the cost of which came out to $4.68—about the price of a regular latte.    

By way of comparison, in March 2022 alone, we burned 357 cubic metres. It had been a cold month, and our furnace, that troll-ish contraption huddled in a dim corner of the basement, was running full out. In the past two winters, our electric air source heat pump—which looks like a hefty mini-split and lives on a little platform off to the side of the front porch—did all the heavy lifting, using electrons that come mainly from Ontario's nuclear plants and Niagara Falls. 

We didn't set out to install a heat pump, truth be told. After the federal Liberals announced the Greener Homes program in 2021, we signed up for an energy audit with an eye to taking advantage of retrofit grants, up to $5,000. The auditor suggested more insulation, stopping up drafts and an electric water heater; the other retrofits seemed too costly. 

Having dealt with the low-hanging fruit, we eventually turned to the trickier fix. Replacing the gas water heater meant buying out the lease and then replacing an electrical panel that likely dated to World War II. The electrical upgrade was critical for work of this kind, and, in our case, should have been done ages ago. 

The author's heat pump. After it was installed, his gas bill dropped sharply.

The auditor recommended an installer, who suggested an electric tank water heater with a heat pump attached—it's super-efficient, the same size as our previous tank, and there's no waiting time for the water to heat up, as is the case with tankless heaters. Those three upgrades, plus the panel replacement, cost about $12,000 (we bought an A.O. Smith water heater for $4,000). As we did the work in the summer, our gas consumption immediately fell to zero, and yielded a $2,000 rebate from the Greener Homes program.

(While the federal government cancelled the over-subscribed Greener Homes program in 2024, other grant and loan offerings have filled its place, with a focus on low-and middle-income Canadians. B.C., for example, introduced a program, co-funded by Ottawa, that offers grants of up to $16,000, depending on household income, for heating-oil-to-heat pump conversions. Other versions of this program are available in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as Ontario, which provides free cold climate heat pumps for low-income homeowners. 

Ontario also just announced a Home Renovation Savings Program, which will offer rebates of up to 30 percent for energy-efficient home upgrades. And some municipalities, such as the City of Toronto, provide modest low-interest loans for heat pumps, though not hybrid systems. When we bought our heat pump, there were no incentives for hybrid systems, but they’re listed under the qualifying products in the new Ontario program. And Enbridge has also begun providing rebates of up to $5,000 for such systems in selected communities.) 

Emboldened, we decided to buy a heat pump, which is a mature, widely used technology that functions on the same principle as a refrigerator. It collects and concentrates energy from the ambient outdoor air, even when it's cold outside, converts it into heat, and blows warm air into the home. In the summer, it does the opposite with warm indoor air, and therefore also acts as an air conditioner. 

For our purposes, we had two choices: a cold-climate version, which operates down to -30C and replaces the gas furnace altogether, and a so-called hybrid, which works down to about -10C, at which point it passes the heating baton to the furnace to deal with really cold days. At the time, we couldn't afford the former—the unit is expensive and would have required us to buy out the lease on our furnace. (The prices on cold climate heat pumps have been dropping steadily as the market has expanded, according to Erik Janssen, a research scientist at the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.) 

The latter option seemed financially doable—the models we considered ranged from $6,000 to $8,000. We went with a Mits. The heat pump is hooked up to our Ecobee smart thermostat, as well as our six-year old high-efficiency gas furnace. 

During the first winter, the heat pump worked well and mostly predictably. I say “mostly” because it actually tried to keep heating well below its advertised minimum temperature, but didn’t manage to consistently keep the temperature at our usual setting (21C). By the second winter, I had figured out how to adjust the thermostat on very cold days to keep the heat at the desired level. The gas furnace has kicked in on a handful of occasions, but only extremely cold days. 

As for the operating costs, our gas bill has dropped sharply at a time when gas rates have been skyrocketing, although we still have to pay a minimum for the hook up and the furnace rental (we pay about $150 every month for these two fees). The electricity bill during the winter months came in at about 1.5 to 2.5 times the pre-heat pump monthly average, but those amounts drop back down to their normal levels for most of the rest of the year (we never racked up hefty summer hydro bills because we rarely used the A/C thanks to the shade from several big trees and the fan in the heat pump). 

When we netted out the annual cost, we came out about $1,200 ahead of our pre-heat pump energy bills, meaning the system pays for itself in about 14 years. (If a future government eliminates carbon pricing, the net benefit will be slightly smaller.) 

There's a far more edifying pay off. In March 2022, our home emitted almost 700 kg of carbon by operating a gas furnace and a gas water heater. By stark contrast, in the two years that elapsed between July 2022 and June 2024, our emissions were just a shade over 40 kg—a 94 percent reduction. Not quite net zero, but tantalizingly close.

The latest on heat pumps

Since 2022, the heat pump market has matured significantly. Energy auditor Sarah Grant, founder of Goldfinch Energy in Toronto, says that most HVAC contractors are now comfortable with recommending and installing heat pumps, especially for people who are looking to replace an aging or broken air conditioner. She notes that a new-ish variation on the theme has gained traction—a so-called air-to-water heat pump, which heats the water in a radiator system (instead of a gas furnace), and thus provides an alternative to the use of interior wall-mounted ductless heat pumps, which were at one point the only option for homes that didn't have forced air.

Trish Long, another Toronto energy consultant and founder of Switch Heat Pumps, adds that some systems now come with an indoor electric heat exchanger, which provides backup heat on very cold days, meaning you don’t need a gas furnace as backup. It’s also useful for larger heat pumps, which tend to be somewhat less efficient than smaller models. In large homes, she adds, some owners will invest in back-up power—a diesel generator or a Tesla Powerwall, as an insurance policy against black-outs, but such devices are still very expensive.

What to look for if you’re thinking of buying a heat pump

Heat pump expert Erik Janssen, a research scientist at the Toronto Region Conservation Authority, offers some smart advice for homeowners thinking of making the shift.

• Don't wait until your gas furnace dies. Janssen says it's important to begin planning a few years in advance so you're not forced to make a decision in a crisis.

• Do your due diligence on installers and make sure they’ve worked with heat pumps previously. While the technology is well established, not all contractors understand all the technical nuances.

• Make sure you're buying a heat pump that’s the right size for your home, and also take the time to make sure your ducts can accommodate the necessary air flow. The techniques for estimating air flow and heat loss are improving rapidly, says Janssen. He adds that Natural Resources Canada has published new technical guides for contractors to assist with choosing the correct model.

• Pay attention to sound on the spec sheet of the models you're considering. Because they've got large fans, heat pumps hum more loudly than gas furnaces, so the location of the pump—like an air conditioner, heat pumps will live outside, not in your basement—and its proximity to your neighbours' homes, is relevant. 

• Take advantage of the incentives on offer. The rebates make the math, as well as the climate considerations, work. "It's not just for environmentally minded people any more."

• A heat pump allows you to mitigate potential risks of gas cost increases—a lot might happen to the utility rate landscape over the lifetime of your system. "Combining heat pumps with other large-ish envelope upgrades, and then fully electrifying the home can also help ensure there are savings in the face of uncertain future rates."

• The Canadian Climate Initiative offers a useful heat-pump calculator that provides cost breakdowns based on various configurations (gas alone, hybrid standard, cold climate).  

Related: I Got A Heat Pump Water Heater (And Got My Home Off Gas)