@drewtozer.bsky.social
Installing heat pumps for comfortable, healthy, sustainable homes in Toronto, Canada. Every HVAC contractor is a climate company. https://foundryheatpumps.ca
@drewtozer.bsky.social made one of the best videos on heat pumps I’ve seen so far youtu.be/4Hq1dAoKZsQ?...
08.11.2025 03:24 — 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
I'm a little jealous - it's like @drewtozer.bsky.social condensed all the wisdom from @heatpumped.org in a single video.
If you're looking to get a heat pump for your house, this covers many of the key points. Give him a follow if you aren't already! www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hq1...
If you’ve got heatpump questions, @drewtozer.bsky.social ‘s new heatpump explainer video will probably answer them!
youtu.be/4Hq1dAoKZsQ?...
And the risk of duct pressure issues because of the larger fan.
24.07.2025 10:37 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This is the best heat pump explainer video I've ever seen!
Great work Drew Tozer!
If you like it, bookmark it and share when you see an opportunity!
#2wayac #heatpump #HVAC
bit.ly/BestHPexplai...
To tackle the myths and misconceptions around heat pumps, we need content that’s accurate and easy to share. That means short and engaging—so we made an explainer video that’s accurate, easy to share, and shows why so many homeowners are making the switch.
📣 Who will you share it with?
@kerry99.bsky.social Hi! How can I help?
06.07.2025 19:39 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Why is commissioning the answer? Because it's sticky.
If rebates are based on objective commissioning metrics.
Contractors are forced to learn & use best practices.
And that'll lead to fewer callbacks and issues.
💡 Do you think "commissioning" is the path to better rebate programs?
We shoehorn the wrong equipment "because it's eligible".
And we get a sugar rush of quick and cheap installs.
Contractors are pro-HP for the free money.
But they stop installing heat pumps when the program ends.
That's what happened with Canada Greener Homes grants. 🫠
We're designing heat pump rebates wrong.
(It's a mistake to require minimum specs.)
We don't need better equipment, we need better installs.
How do we incentive better installation practices?
With objective commissioning and reports.
What happens when rebates are based on equipment specs? 🤔
A semi-detached is half a building—but we're shocked when it needs half the heating.
"Connected" homes (semi-detached, rowhouses, etc.) have a shared wall with a neighbour, and it's sharing heat through it.
If a detached home needs 3 tons of heating, why wouldn't a semi- need a 1.5-ton heat pump?
Rip out an old and busted furnace.
Install a fully electric heat pump. New hotness.
The before and after is oddly satisfying.
A single-stage 6-ton oil furnace...that's 4x too big.
On the coldest week of the year, it'll run 15-min per hour.
This is where heat pumps shine. It's the only HVAC system that can be properly sized to match the heating needs of this house.
I.e. “it takes time to heat stuff up.”
25.05.2025 16:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0What’s the ELI5 answer for why?
It happens on a daily basis too, right? Peak solar is noon but the hottest time of day is early afternoon.
Eligibility should depend on high-quality installation, proven by objective metrics. Existing programs should add "commissioning" as a separate measure with a juicy rebate.
For loans, the reduced risk of properly installed equipment should earn a reduced interest rate.
3. Objective commissioning (with real-time measurements).
Performance and reliability depends as much on installation quality as the equipment. Like triple-pane windows, a premium heat pump that's installed poorly will perform poorly and fail early. But rebate programs only look at equipment specs.
2. Heat loads on thermostats (zero-effort heat loads).
Every house has heating and cooling loads, and every house has a smart thermostat—it's just a software update to close that loop. On the coldest week of the year, how often did the furnace run? If it's 30 minutes per hour, it's 200% oversized.
1. ACs to heat pumps (stop manufacturing one-way ACs).
This has broad appeal. It means less equipment to manufacture, ship, store, sell, and install. Electrification will happen naturally with every AC replacement—without a conversation about electrification or carbon savings.
Electrification means systemic changes to the industry.
(Not convincing HVAC contractors one at a time.)
Here's my wishlist of systemic HVAC changes:
1. ACs to heat pumps (no one-way ACs)
2. Heat loads on smart thermostats
3. Objective commissioning
Those are three ways to move the industry.
Heat pumps aren’t for everyone.
They’re a tool to make comfortable, healthy, sustainable homes—but they need to be sized and installed properly.
I’d rather see a gas furnace than a poorly installed heat pump in the wrong house, because we need great homeowner experiences to #electrifyeverything.
Tell me more about "central ownership". What does that mean?
Standardization is always great, but I'm not sure how much it'd help on this one. The risk is that you don't know what the other contractor did wrong, how many corners were cut, etc.
➡️ Because we treat HVAC as a commodity, we think cheaper contractors are better because it's the same product for less—but we ignore the downside risk of cheap materials, poor installation quality, and no long-term service.
08.05.2025 12:49 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0If there aren't any issues with your new system, you win! You got the same product for less. You bought a high-yield bond and it didn't default.
But if the system breaks, cheap contractors are more likely to ghost you than fix it. You get nothing.
But the higher yield (interest rate) is a sign of risk.
If they default on the loan, you get nothing. And the higher the interest rate, the more likely it is to default.
The cheaper the contractor, the higher the risk.
Cheap heat pump installers are like high-interest loans.
It's a great deal if you ignore the downside risk.
If you make an investment that pays a high interest rate (like a high-yield bond), it's a good inestment as long as the other party continues to make payments.
➡️ There's no "used HVAC" market, and it's not like bringing your lemon-of-a-car to a different mechanic to find the problem. The other mechanic will turn you away. In many cases, the fix for a poorly installed heat pump is to buy an entirely new heat pump (and get it installed properly).
05.05.2025 19:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Why won't a new contractor fix it? It's difficult to get a contractor to troubleshoot problems on equipment they didn't install, especially with new equipment that's already having issues. They don't want that risk.
05.05.2025 19:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Why won't the original contractor fix it? Part of the savings from cheap contractors is excluding (or underestimating) service costs. Their price covers labour and materials for the installation. The warranty is on the invoice, sure—but getting them to honour it is a different beast altogether.
05.05.2025 19:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
