Thousands of heat pump models are eligible for financial assistance. But, at the dawn of summer, installers are overwhelmed. It is therefore necessary to be well informed not to be fooled… and to save money!
“The heat pump remains the pet peeve of itinerant trade,” warns Charles Tanguay, spokesperson for the Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC).
The latter mentions that itinerant tradesmen often use pretexts, such as energy saving, an evaluation of the energy efficiency of your house or an evaluation of the insulation by dangling about clearly exaggerated energy savings.
“Sometimes they invent subsidy programs that don’t even exist,” adds Mr. Tanguay. If you are told: “it is signed today and tomorrow it will be too late”, don’t sign anything! »
Mr. Tanguay adds that people have already paid $30,000 for a heat pump that was worth less than $5,000.
Subsidies
However, Hydro-Québec offers real financial support for residential heat pumps, which leads to more than 50,000 requests per year. More than 1,200 pages of eligible heat pump brands are listed on the Hydro-Québec website.
Advice
Étienne St-Cyr, engineer and head of the Energy Expertise team for Hydro-Québec, first suggests to those who have a two-storey house to put a heat pump on each floor (excluding the basement) to properly air-condition the whole space all year round.
“The principle is that hot air rises and cold air descends,” explained Mr. St-Cyr in an interview. So the hot air will stay up high if you install a heat pump only on the second floor without installing one on the ground floor. »
Patrick Bourassa, owner of Patrick Bourassa Thermopompe in Montreal, who has been installing more than sixty units per summer for the past ten years, also says that you have to plan your installation well.
“There are people who buy heat pumps online to have them installed by others,” explained Mr. Bourassa, whom we met when he was installing a heat pump in a Montreal apartment. “But,” he says, “there may be sizing issues in the apartment that don’t match the size of the heat pump. »
Photo special collaboration Simon Dessureault
Entrepreneur Patrick Bourassa installing an interior model of a heat pump in an apartment in the Rosemont district of Montreal on May 3.
Mr. Bourassa specifies that you also need to find out if you can install a heat pump in your condominium home, for example.
“There are condominiums that have their requirements on the height and locations of the outdoor machine,” explained Mr. Bourassa.
And the latter affirms that most of the boroughs of Montreal prohibit heat pumps on the facade.
“I’ve seen inspectors wanting to move the heat pump after installation,” he added.
Energy savings
Caroline Blazy, Senior Sales and Marketing Director at HydroSolution, explains that a heat pump saves energy because it can be used in refrigeration-air conditioning mode. And devices can be used down to temperatures of -18, -20 degrees.
“They are used for a good part of the fall, until the very cold weather, which means that we do not need to turn on the heaters,” says Ms.me Blazy. So it’s really the outside air that heats and cools a residence. »
Photo courtesy of Hydro Solution
Fujitsu wall-mounted heat pump, model LM Performance Series, high-end and energy efficient.
Mme Blazy also claims that Energy Star certified heat pump models offer the best energy savings.
Étienne St-Cyr takes it even further. “I recommend setting the temperature of the heat pump 1 or 2 degrees higher than the thermostat that heats the electric baseboards in the same space in a system that is not central [c’est-à-dire où l’air est poussé dans la résidence via l’unité murale] », Details the engineer with precision.
“So electric baseboard heaters are only used when it’s very, very cold,” he says.
Mr. Saint-Cyr also mentioned that there are products with options that allow you to be connected to the Internet and that can be controlled remotely. “It’s a little more expensive, but you can reduce the temperature to save money,” added Mr. St-Cyr.
Dual energy
Hydro-Québec also supports consumers who heat with natural gas with Énergir so that they can replace their heating equipment with a heat pump.
“We are aiming for Énergir customers to install a heat pump in their heating system,” said Mr. St-Cyr. A heat pump is added to replace 75% of gas consumption with very efficient electricity consumption thanks to the heat pump. »