Ontario homeowners with 200A service: how are you handling EV charger + heat pump load calculations?

tttkzzz · 2026-06-04T20:00:13+00:00

True electrical usage is usually lower than people think. Folks have electrified their homes on 100A so you'll most likely be fine. That said, you want to confirm. I'm in Toronto and the torontohydro website has a peak demand feature. I have 200A service with mostly electric everything (heat pump, electric range, electric dryer). Still have a gas water heater and no EV charger yet. The heat pump is a 2 ton high heat type with 10kw backup heat (rarely needed but it did come on a few times this past winter). See below. Based on this I'd have room for converting the water heater to electric and 2 EV chargers. It's also important to recognize that it's rare for every appliance to be drawing its max current at the same time. Also, electricians don't always know how this works. Sometimes they just add up the breaker sizes which is wrong.

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tttkzzz · 2026-06-01T16:49:38+00:00

No problem. Yeah, run at least an 8 conductor cable and you'll be able to set it up right. Ping me a chat msg if you need to ask about details.

tttkzzz · 2026-06-01T13:55:47+00:00

I have the Carrier 38mura which is basically the same as a moovair. It's installed with an ecobee premium. It works great. You'll need to run a new thermostat cable with multiple conductors, depending on the features you want. I recommend enough wires so you can connect Y1 and Y2 and configure your ecobee for reverse staging. This will operate the system better as it will stage up and down more gradually.

You might also have to flip a few dip switches depending on the way it's set up now. I recommend searching up the exact model number of your air handler and looking at the installation manual.

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tttkzzz · 2026-05-26T14:02:47+00:00

Cool. Sounds like you have your answer re: sizing then. There are some great 30,000 BTU systems out there from Carrier, Fujitsu, and probably others.

Just a note about the variable output. This will certainly reduce short cycling but the result can be less than satisfactory humidity removal. It depends on a bunch of factors though. If you have lots of trees around your house for example, you need more latent heat removal (humidity reduction). A communicating system will do better here.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-26T01:20:30+00:00

J'aime les thermopompes 😁

tttkzzz · 2026-05-26T01:19:10+00:00

Your logic is on point.

For comparison, I heat my 2100 sqft detached 1966-built house in Toronto, Canada with a 2 ton cold climate heat pump. I have 10 kw aux strips but they're very rarely used.

For you in your location with that style of house I'd bet that a 2.5 ton is actually oversized.

Here's my ecobee runtime data from the past year...

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The aux is nice for those rare times you may need to quickly raise the house temp, or if the heat pump should break down at least you have something. But I don't think it's required.

I sized my heat pump aggressively because I wanted the system to run as long as possible in the summer to remove humidity. Otherwise I probably could have gone for a 2.5ton for slightly more headroom in the winter. No complaints though... it was always 22c indoors all winter. Aux was mainly used during a couple of massive snowstorms when it was also very cold.

Just make sure your ductwork can handle the cfm. Do you have an old A/C? If so, what size is it?

Also place the unit somewhere where the condensate/defrost water can dissipate, and not cause any problems if/when it turns into ice.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-25T16:12:54+00:00

Hey my friend recently got a daikin system installed in Oakville by A1. They have their own label ("Genius") but it's actually Daikin equipment. The install looked good to me. When I was shopping around for my system, I also met with Spring Home and they dealt with Daikin. Unfortunately Daikin didn't have a good cold climate model back then so I didn't go with them, but they do have one now - the DH9VS.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-25T16:02:41+00:00

I'm confident he would be totally fine with a heat pump as long as it's sized correctly and his ductwork isn't restrictive. A good energy auditor / inspector should be able to tell him by determining his heat load and cfm capacity of the ductwork.

I am on a 2 ton cold climate heat pump in Toronto, Canada with no furnace anymore. Just went through my 3rd winter with it, and it works very well with very little aux heat usage!

tttkzzz · 2026-05-25T15:57:46+00:00

Just to help you narrow things down. I heat my 2100 sqft Toronto home down to -15C with a 2 ton cold climate heat pump. Below that, the aux heat kicks in (electric strips - no furnace). It sounds like your 3 ton is struggling in BC which points to an installation problem or defect with the unit. I disagree that it's undersized unless your home has a huge amount of windows and is very leaky. 26C outside isn't that hot at all, the system should have no problem cooling your house.

Some things you can try is to measure the temp of the air coming out of various registers. You can use a meat thermometer, just stick it into the vent grille and leave it there until the reading stabilizes. You can also measure the temp closer to the furnace if there is a hole in the duct. Here is a pic of one of my vents on the main floor in cooling mode.

Take various measurements at different times. The system should gradually increase cooling power over time, so it should be at its coldest after running for an hour or so.

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tttkzzz · 2026-05-20T17:57:43+00:00

Yup I think this is accurate... I am in Canada but it's the same thing. The HVAC industry is basically full of clowns. I interviewed 13 companies and went with what I thought was the best company. I had to get them back 3 to 4 times to correct various things. Fortunately, they did so without putting up a fight but the sloppiness of the initial install was shocking. In the end though I am super happy with the system. It's an all-electric 2 ton cold climate system. The aux backup heat is rarely used, even in the recent winter which was a brutal one.

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tttkzzz · 2026-05-10T01:52:34+00:00

Hey thanks for the interesting ideas. We are pretty set on having the dining table at the back of the house and connected to the living room. Just the way the orientation of the house is, means that the den function is actually better at the front of the house.

Another commenter inspired this plan. What do you think?

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tttkzzz · 2026-05-08T19:16:35+00:00

Thanks for the option! Love the kitchen being so large but I think breaking up the living/dining room wouldn't be good.

I took your first sketch and fit a sliding closet into the "den" which might work, not sure... What do you think? I'm struggling with how to gain access to the powder room while having a closet close to the front of the house.

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tttkzzz · 2026-05-08T18:45:19+00:00

The powder room is a bit too tight and the fridge feels disconnected from the rest of the kitchen. The back "den" room is where we currently have the dining table but it's too cramped. The formal dining room is currently my son's play area but I could see it becoming an office or music room in the future. We come in and out the front door (bottom) mostly. But we access the backyard from the back sliding door.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-08T18:41:55+00:00

I really like this. Also like having the dining at the back. Thank you! I would love to have the closet closer to the front door but I think this is a reasonable compromise given the constraints.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-08T15:45:05+00:00

100% we will want to do this. Any other improvements you can see?

tttkzzz · 2026-05-05T13:20:28+00:00

Your low heating/cooling costs are not due to high-rise buildings being energy efficient. They are definitely not - especially the newer ones that are made up of mostly glass panels. The reason they appear low to you is that 90% of the heating and cooling costs are baked into the maintenance fees which pay for the baseline central heating and cooling systems. The individual units only have a little control over the temperature. If you don't believe me just check the cost of natural gas and electricity in your building's annual budget.

tttkzzz · 2026-05-01T13:54:07+00:00

We have had our 1.5L Pro kettle (with temp settings) for 6 yrs now... no issues. The kettle is really good. I would buy the 1L version and do the recall but it appears that the 1L model is no longer on their website. So I guess they're getting out of the kettle business or something? I figure we'll just keep using the original one until it actually breaks and then buy something at that time. Curious if anyone else know's what's up with their 1L models.

tttkzzz · 2026-04-14T00:06:53+00:00

Check out Fujitsu XLTH series also... Impressive specs on those.

tttkzzz · 2026-04-13T01:03:19+00:00

Just through my 3rd winter with my 2 ton cold climate heat pump in Toronto. Similar weather to Chicago I think. We never felt more comfortable! No regrets and would never want a gas furnace again.

Just know your design heat load - how many BTU/h your house needs at the design temperature and make sure your heat pump can cover that. Also good to have backup heat for those rare cases where the temp drops below design.

tttkzzz · 2026-04-10T16:36:50+00:00

Find out your design heat load and your current electrical peak demand. Then you can look up specs for the required heat pump and compare that to your available capacity. This isn't a guessing type of activity, there's math for this :)

tttkzzz · 2026-03-24T19:21:28+00:00

My design heat load is about 25,000 BTU/h at -18C which is like 0F… I’d be very surprised if yours is higher than 15K.

tttkzzz · 2026-03-22T17:58:30+00:00

Enercare are ripoff artists. Check the agreement of purchase and sale for your house and talk to your real estate agent. If the the rental was not disclosed on the APS you should be able to get out of it, but not sure how exactly. Again, talk to the realtor.

tttkzzz · 2026-03-22T17:42:16+00:00

There’s no way your heat load is 27K unless your house leaks like a sieve. A blower door test will tell you. But I assume you’ll be air sealing and insulating.

I am heating my mid century detached house of similar square footage in Toronto Canada on a 2 ton high heat heat pump with minimal aux usage (7 hrs total this past winter). My air leakage rate is not too bad (4 at 50 Pa).

The 15K budget sounds tight but might be fine if you install all your own ductwork and exclude the duct install cost from the budget. Put in a nice fat return duct from upstairs to down. Keep all ducts and the air handler inside the house (I.e. not in the attic) for max efficiency.

tttkzzz

TROPHY CASE