Heat pump installation, sized to your house
Ducted, ductless and multi-head systems for Qualicum Beach, Parksville and the Central Island, installed and serviced by Red Seal technicians.
What fits which house
Three shapes of system, and the house usually picks for you. Ducts, layout and how the place is heated today decide it.
Cooling comes with all three. A heat pump run backwards in July is the same machine that heats in January, which is the part people are surprised by.
Sized to your house
A heat pump that is too big short-cycles, never pulls moisture out of the air, and wears itself out doing it. Too small and the backup heat carries January. The only way to know which you are being sold is to work out what the building loses on a cold night.
Whole-home installs get a CSA F280-12 heat-load calculation: insulation, windows, air leakage, orientation, room by room. The equipment is chosen against that number and against what your electrical panel can carry.
Rebates, and where we stand
Griffin Refrigeration is not registered with CleanBC Better Homes, so the provincial heat pump rebates are not available on our installs today.
Which program a house qualifies for comes down to how it is heated today. The Home Renovation Rebate is for homes on hard-wired electric heat, and the income-qualified program covers households under its income limits. Both need the heat pump installed by a contractor registered with the program.
Amounts move, and most of the pages quoting them are out of date. We keep the figures on their own pages, each linked to the official source: start with which rebate applies on Vancouver Island, or go straight to the rebate for electrically heated homes. The Vancouver Island page also carries the BC Hydro bonus on heat pumps finished this autumn, with its amount and closing dates.
- The heat pump replaces a hard-wired electric heating system
- Homes over 1,200 sq. ft. need a multi-split or a central system
- Replacing an existing heat pump, or adding a head to one, is not eligible
- Whole-home rebates need a CSA F280-12 heat-load calculation
- The installer has to be in the Home Performance Contractor Network
- Self-installs are not eligible
How a heat pump job runs
Three steps, and the first one is free and takes ten minutes on the phone.
- 01 You tell us how the house is heated Baseboards, a furnace, a wood stove, or some mix of the three. That answer decides what the job involves, and it is a phone call, not a site visit.
- 02 We measure before we price A look at the house, the panel and the ductwork, then a heat-load calculation on whole-home work. Equipment is picked against that number.
- 03 The install Red Seal technicians on the install, and the system commissioned and set up before anyone leaves. You get the settings explained once, standing in front of the thermostat.
Repairs and service on any make
A heat pump that ices over and stays iced, trips its breaker, runs without stopping or blows cool air in January is usually telling you something specific. We work on what is already on the wall, whoever put it there.
Send the model and serial numbers off the data plate, and what your last service invoice says if you kept one, through the contact form. If the unit is young and the fault is a known one, you will hear that before anybody starts talking about replacing it.
Before you sign anything
Two things worth reading first, neither of which sells you a heat pump.
What a heat pump costs here
What moves the number on an Island install, what a quote should itemise, and where the rebate lands in the arithmetic.
Read the guideNobody should be selling one at your door
Door-to-door sales of heat pumps, furnaces and air conditioners are banned in BC. What to do if somebody knocks anyway.
Read the guideWhere we install heat pumps
Based in Qualicum Beach, installing across Oceanside, Nanaimo, the Alberni Valley and the West Coast.
- Parksville
The next town over. The crew that installs the system is the crew that comes back to service it.
- Qualicum Beach
The shop is here. Installs, service on any make, and the rebate documents handled from this end.
- Nanaimo
Down Highway 19 from the shop. Heat pumps for homes, installs and service on any make.
- Port Alberni
The Valley reaches a July design temperature of 31 degrees, so a heat pump there is bought to cool the house as much as to heat it. A gas-heated home is a different rebate conversation from an electric one, and we will tell you which one you are in.
- Tofino
Homes and rentals out there run on electric baseboard, wood or delivered propane, and a heat pump replaces the first two directly. Electric and wood heat are also what the provincial rebate stream is written for.
- Ucluelet
At a July design temperature of 18 degrees, cooling is not why anyone buys one here. A heat pump in Ucluelet earns its keep holding an even temperature through a long wet winter, with no fuel delivery behind it.
Also covered Nanoose Bay French Creek Coombs Errington Bowser Qualicum Bay Deep Bay Lantzville Ladysmith Chemainus Duncan Courtenay Comox Cumberland Campbell River and across Central Vancouver Island, from Campbell River to Duncan
Questions we get about heat pumps
Can a heat pump be repaired, or does it have to be replaced?
Can I install a heat pump myself?
Which rebate applies to my house?
Will you service a heat pump another company installed?
Ready to price a heat pump?
Tell us how the house is heated now and roughly how big it is, and we will tell you what the job involves before anyone books a visit. We reply within 24 hours.