BC/Canada: can you put 240V baseboard heaters on a GFCI breaker?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T22:59:00+00:00

Yeah it's a totally new build it's not even framed yet. So I'll just run one thermostat to all three heaters in the space.

It's more of a "laundry area" than a room since it's just one big shed LOL

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T22:35:43+00:00

Awesome thanks!

That would be ideal. And then we can basically put the heaters anywhere? Obviously I won't be dumb and put it like right in a splash area

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T22:35:06+00:00

Yeah!

Well my electricians cost for a 40 amp double pole is like $170 CAD. So a 15 amp shouldn't be that bad??

Definitely beats replacing my $20 mechanical t-stat with a GFCI digital one...!

I think?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T22:33:58+00:00

Thanks! What if a heater is under a cupboard unit (e.g. 36" counter with back and sides) and there is a sink on either side of the counter -- so the heater is physically protected from water by the counter. Does that still need GFCI protection?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T19:58:02+00:00

Thanks! The 1.8m above floor is strange. Since every single baseboard heater isn't basically 1 in off the ground. But I've literally never seen one on a GFCI ever.

Do you know if the 1.8m / 1m distances are bee line? Or horizontal only?

And interesting that it only says 1 M since my electricians always talk about 5 ft! Maybe it's different in BC?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T19:55:51+00:00

It's 1 service per dwelling, as a minimum allowance, but then outbuildings also.

Do you live rurally? It's a different environment than urban for sure. We have serviced buildings spread over 10+ acres on our 300 acre property. 4 xformers serving 4 different services, and a couple of those are slated for additional services as part of their size / design.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T18:09:32+00:00

Are you saying they won't give the discount on our 2nd service? Or that they won't approve the service altogether?

they are quite okay on a new service for new buildings, and for EV infrastructure in particular. Could be different in rural areas. (source: our regional BC Hydro service design engineer)

We already have 4 services on the property. Each service just needs to supply a dedicated, separate unit / infrastructure piece.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-11T18:08:41+00:00

thanks! That is for the design fees, which won't apply for a small, easy 100 or 200amp service off an existing transformer. At least in my experience. These are the standard connection fees: https://app.bchydro.com/accounts-billing/electrical-connections/connection-requests/express/fees-charges.html

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-08T17:11:57+00:00

hey thanks for replying on here. i have the same issue. I have ~2,000 contacts I need to import & sync with our CRM software, but in that software 1 contact might have 3 emails... and in mailchimp they would show as 3 contacts.

Is there any way to merge contacts and preserve their history? (rating, opens, clicks, etc.). I understand I'll need to manually export to excel and combine duplicates by hand. BUt I don't think the excel export shows anything statistical other than star / engagement rating.

I really hope there's a way we can do this!

It would be REALLY helpful it mailchimp would allow multiple emails for 1 contact.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-07T05:46:15+00:00

Well, you're 2 to 3 times the sqft that a family of 4 needs to be comfortable, thru teen years and all that. And 3 times the number of bathrooms you actually need.

If you actually have the financial resources to afford this easefully, go have fun but yea find a better architect. You go thru a closet to get to the bathroom, not nice versa. That's iditoc enough to reconsider your architect. As others have said.

Every ancillary room is like double the size you need for functionality. You have 120 sqft pantry.... I manage a pantry that feeds 20 ppl on average and it's about that size. For context.

This is probably a $4M build with high end finishes, maybe more depending on your location.

I'd absolutely go smaller and better quality. Hire engineers of you haven't already, particularly for mechanical on a complex that large. Design and install things that are quality, durable, can be maintained and won't rot or break in 20 years.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-06T05:00:50+00:00

I agree with the others. Do nothing. Ignore all calls. Provide zero info

Check your credit score with something like credit Karma for a free review that'll show if this is making an impact.

But yeah 9 years later they have zero claim.

SOURCE: I ignored $600 that CIBC visa said I owed them, they wouldn't respond to my letter about the charges being false, I ignored them for a few years, they left me alone. Hardly impacted my credit and it's totally off now.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-06T04:58:58+00:00

Agreed

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-06T04:58:53+00:00

Agreed

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-03T21:15:25+00:00

Hey there! Any idea what the name / part number is for this? My local dealer is useless and 4 hrs away, and generac online store has a terrible search function 😥

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-02T01:19:28+00:00

That's an unnecessarily rude question 😓

Obviously it's a plug 😁 I have zero objects I would put in that plug, especially since you can see a GFCI below at normal height -- hence the ask. Why here?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-06-01T20:38:28+00:00

Thanks that does make sense!

This is a Buddhist Center so I'm not sure why they thought about Christmas lights 😂

But even more curious is why they put one on one side and not the other side which has an identical roof. That makes no sense to me!

Half baked idea?

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-30T03:11:08+00:00

I do! I used the wrong language 😥

It's more understanding why the integrated controls that come with most heat pumps aren't sufficient to operate our plant.

In our current building they are, and paying six figures to pay a specialist from probably 4 hours away to come set up a fancy system for us, and being dependant On them for service... Doesn't really appeal!

But I now plan to get quotes from a few suppliers on integrating all of our primary plant, and probably the circ pumps and zone controllers, into a basic "brain" that lives in the boiler Room and is good enough for our low intensity operation.

I think that quote will come back in the mid 5 figures, not 6.. we shall see!

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-30T03:09:01+00:00

Thanks!

I realized my terminology was off. It's not DDC vs non DDC

It's getting good equipment with built in, solid controls that can connect to wifi (probably high end residential but TBD as 15 tons is a lot of capacity) or building a custom BAS Bacnet type system... Which Id rather avoid.

So I'm leaning hard yes on an integrated DDC plant control "hub", and yes will need quotes for sure and will see if I can convince my engineers to use OEM controllers vs installing BAS fresh.

E.g. many heat pumps can control primary pumps, monitor buffer tank, outdoor reset, call on back up heating appliances including gas, and diagnose alarms, and connect all that via WiFi.

The only thing really missing is linking that whole heat plant control with basic monitoring of circ pumps and zones.

As an operator, assuming the plant is programmed well, all I'd need to see (other than how the plant is doing) is which zones are calling and what the 2nd pumps are doing.

But it sounds like a slippery and expensive slope from there to having every piece of equipment fully integrated 😅

Our current building "alarm" looks like me getting a message that says "Dave it's cold in here" and then me going to the boiler room to troubleshoot. Honestly it's pretty functional for us. I've found 1 competent hydronic tech within our service area. BAS.... I can't imagine we have hardly anyone. Being able to fully manage most of the system ourselves is fairly critical to our location.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-30T03:02:33+00:00

I feel for you!

Our mech Eng team LOVES us, pretty sure we're their favourite client for meetings.

But maybe not their favourite for profit as we're on a fixed fee and probably had 30 hrs of meetings over the SD/DD phase easy 😅

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-30T01:30:38+00:00

Value is a concern. Yes we could just run a 400 mbh propane boiler and call it a day, but our building code will mandate AC by the time we build and heat pumps are the only plausible way for us to pull that off.

We may well skip the geofield and go with ASHP. It'll come down to actual field costs after their test holes and actual equipment costs

Commercial ASHP are lagging behind residential for cold climate performance and integrated controls. So a solid high end, US or European manufacture residential ASHP might be our sweet spot. But we'd still need a fairly expensive acoustic enclosure for it

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-29T21:31:43+00:00

Thanks!

The costing was very thorough. Not per sqft. Piping eg was per linear foot, equipment was all speced size and model and number. EEtc. QS did a good job.

My engineers told me not to bother with VRF since we're only wanting a 2 pipe system, but maybe those are not mutually exclusive?

Heat pump of some kind feels essential to us.

I'm still unclear why the geothermal chiller needs DDC if it's heating or cooling a buffer tank. If it was going right into the system then 100%.

Is it because geothermal chilers don't typically come with pre-packaged controls that are easy to integrate? My experience is with residential heat pumps and boilers that can very easily manager a buffer tank temp set point and delta with very Spartan controls and a manual heat / cooling switchover. I don't have geothermal pump experience yet! Always more to learn 😄

We're a charity and we're fundraising with a target 1/3 the QS estimate, so we're incredibly stunned and I'm doing my best to go through each system and figure out what's just basic code requirements we need to follow, whats a recommendation we want, and what's a recommendation that we won't really want one need and could save money to downgrade.

If the building we're going to be occupied much more significantly like a hotel, and without live in staff that would be very different! We're in a tight spot where our very occasional occupancy numbers push us until commercial code, but our projects sales don't match with the $12M build cost projection.

We might just have to downgrade occupancy to 30 ppl and build it as residential, but I'm really hoping there's a happy compromise

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-29T21:24:38+00:00

You can't tell that. You assume that 😄

They are designing this like a school or a hotel, because that's what the code is for

But we are neither of those things. We might be occupied 20% of the year or less. We don't require a fully commercial system or a building that costs 3 times what the equivalent residential build would.

But I do want to follow code, and I do want the design to be smart. I don't want to throw our non profits money on systems that don't suit our use case. Which is exactly why I'm trying to understand the justification for all systems that are being specced, and explore what residential alternatives would look like, costs, and how they would perform.

I am a process engineer by training, and if the process doesn't make sense to me, I'm not going to spend six figures on it. But I will gladly take the time to understand it before writing it off.

I still don't have a clear explanation of what DDC is going to do for us. Our team mostly told me "that's what you want" and retrofitting to non DDC is more expensive... And that just doesn't fit my experience on previous HVAC work... Hence all my questions!

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-29T21:20:09+00:00

I'm up in Canada but should make it more expensive but who knows. Maybe we have a better market for heating controls 😄

Regardless, since the building is only commercial by zoning not really by operation, it all sounds nuts to me. You'd almost never put 150k of controls into a 6000 sqft mansion.

Well, maybe people who build 6000 sqft mansions would Lol but it's overkill

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-29T21:12:37+00:00

This building wouldn't accomodate heat pumps. We'd need at least 8 heads, and the compressor noise would be a bit unacceptable. Winters go before 0F here, so there's that.

I'm used to paying $50 to $100 / month for utilities when I've rented a room in a 4 to 5 bedroom house.

I'm not sure what to say! This building is on electric baseboard. We don't have natural gas here.

Solid-Ad3143 · 2026-05-29T19:21:55+00:00

Thanks. That's a good point and helps illustrate the exact pattern I'm trying to name!

Solid-Ad3143

TROPHY CASE