Heat pumps · Edmonton & Alberta
Cold-climate heat pumps, wired by a Master Electrician.
The mechanical side is a job for HVAC. The electrical side is where I keep finding the failures. I do the electrical.
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- Master Electrician #13824
The electrical half, in order
Five things happen on the wire. Tap any one.
HVAC will tell you which pump. Almost nobody tells you what happens on the electrical side, so here it is, in the order it actually happens on a job.
Tap any step.
We add up what the house already pulls
A heat pump is a new load that runs through the coldest part of an Alberta winter, which is the same week the dryer, the oven and the block heater are all working. So step one is a calculated load on your existing service. Not the size sticker on the panel door, and not a guess.
Why it matters.
- The pump's own rating plate carries the two numbers that decide the entire circuit: minimum circuit ampacity and maximum overcurrent protection.
- Wire gauge and breaker size come off those, and off nothing else. A pump chosen before anybody looked at the service is how a panel upgrade turns up halfway through an install as a change order.
What you can do right now.
- Take a photo of the pump's rating plate and a photo of the inside of your panel door, and send both.
- That is enough for me to tell you over the phone whether this is a circuit or a service upgrade, before anybody charges you for a visit.
Then you get told the truth about your panel
Sometimes there is room and the whole job is a breaker, a circuit and a disconnect. Sometimes the service is 100 A with a full bus and the honest answer is that the panel comes first. You hear which one before you spend money on a pump.
Why it matters.
- A pump sitting on a service that cannot carry it does not fail on a mild October afternoon. It fails in January, on the day the backup heat is running too, which is the one day you actually need it.
- That failure is an electrical design decision made months earlier by somebody who did not want to deliver bad news during a sale.
What you can check in ten seconds.
- Open your panel door and read the number stamped on the main breaker: 60 A, 100 A, 125 A or 200 A. Then count the empty slots.
- Two facts, and you now know as much about your own service as the person quoting you.
The circuit gets built to the nameplate
Breaker size, conductor gauge and the length of the run all come off the pump's rating plate and the distance to it. A long run to the far corner of the house means a heavier conductor, because voltage drop is real and the compressor pays for it every cycle for the next fifteen years.
Why it matters.
- Undersized conductor on a long run is the failure I keep finding, and it does not trip anything.
- It just runs warm and lets the pump work harder than the label says it should, which shows up as a bill that never matches the sales projection and a compressor that ages early.
What to ask for. Ask what gauge is going in and how long the run is. A straight answer sounds like a gauge, a distance and a breaker size. A vague answer sounds like we will figure it out on site.
There is a disconnect outside, at the unit
The outdoor unit gets a means of disconnect you can see and reach from the unit itself, in a weatherproof enclosure rated for outdoors. That is for whoever services it at minus twenty five, and for you if something ever goes wrong out there. It is code, not an upsell line.
Why it matters.
- This is the item that gets left off cheap quotes, because it is a box, a mount, a run of teck or conduit and an hour of labour, and the homeowner has no idea it should be there.
- Then an inspector sees the install and the deficiency is yours to pay for, after everybody has been paid.
What you can check on any quote. Search the quote for the word disconnect. If it is not written down as a line item, ask why. Anybody quoting a heat pump circuit properly can tell you in one sentence where it is going.
Permit, inspection, and a licence on the paperwork
The permit goes in under Raydn's contractor licence, not under your name. An inspector looks at the work. Circuits get labelled so the next person can read the panel. You keep the paperwork, and Master Electrician #13824 is on it.
Why it matters.
- Edmonton's rule is plain: an electrical permit is required to
install, alter, or add to an electrical system
. A new dedicated circuit and an outdoor disconnect are both squarely inside that. - So a permit is being pulled on your job either way, and the only real question is whose licence is carrying it.
How to check it yourself. The city publishes the requirement and the fees: City of Edmonton electrical permits. Read it before you sign a quote from anyone, us included.
One job, both ends of it
This is the part of a heat pump job nobody photographs.
The pump gets the brochure shot. The wall behind it decides whether the thing runs in January. Two Edmonton basements. Both of them ours.
Both photos are our own work in Edmonton. No stock, no supplier renders. Every photo on this site is a job we did.
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What customers say about the electrical work
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Why the two-crew approach
HVAC installs the mechanical. We install the electrical.
Most heat pump failures in Alberta’s first winter aren’t compressor issues. They’re undersized breakers, wrong wire gauge, poor grounding, or a subpanel that couldn’t handle the added load. That’s our lane.
HVAC crew Mechanical
- Sizing (BTU/tonnage) for your home’s heat loss
- Refrigerant lines, condensate drain, mounting
- Indoor head placement, outdoor unit pad
- Commissioning & refrigerant charge
- Manufacturer warranty registration
Raydn Electrical
- Load calculation, panel capacity review
- Dedicated circuit, correct breaker & wire gauge
- Outdoor disconnect (code-required)
- Bonding, grounding, GFCI where required
- Permit, inspection, sign-off · Master Electrician #13824
The pairing that changes everything
Solar + heat pump is the real electrification play.
- A heat pump runs on electricity. A solar array produces electricity. Pair them and you’re converting sunlight into winter heat, on your own roof.
- The economics stack: Edmonton CEIP funds the work at 6.0% fixed on your tax bill, on a waitlist as of August 2026.
- The federal Greener Homes money is gone, it closed October 1, 2025, so plan without it.
-30°C
Cold-climate operating floor per NRCan, on partner-installed pumps
3x
Up to 3x the efficiency of an oil furnace or boiler, per NRCan
6.0%
Fixed CEIP rate for the solar half · code CEIP-02428
The funding, as it actually stands today
What CEIP will fund on a heat pump, and what it will not.
Four facts, straight off the program's own pages, checked August 2026. If somebody quotes you a rebate that is not on this list, ask them where it comes from.
- Eligible upgradeR-HC-007
An air-source heat pump is a listed CEIP upgrade. It has to be ENERGY STAR certified to the most recently published version, has to replace or supplement a less efficient heat source, and has to cover at least 50% of the home's designed heating load.
- The money$3,000 to $50,000
That is the residential range in Edmonton, at up to 100% of project cost, repaid on your property tax bill. Payable in full any time, penalty free.
- The rate and term6.00% fixed
Fixed for the term, up to 20 years or the useful life of the upgrade, whichever is shorter. Our contractor code is CEIP-02428. The city says the program is nearing capacity and new pre-qualifications go on a waitlist.
- Gone, so plan without itGreener Homes
The federal grant is closed and the loan stopped taking applications on October 1, 2025. Anybody still using it in a sales pitch is quoting money that no longer exists.
Sources, in their own words: CEIP eligible HVAC upgrades, City of Edmonton CEIP terms and Natural Resources Canada on the closed programs. Financing terms are the program's, not ours, and they change. Read them yourself.
The part a salesperson skips
Three things a heat pump will not do in an Edmonton winter.
Below minus 30 you still need backup heat
Natural Resources Canada puts it plainly. Cold-climate units
can operate when outdoor air temperatures are as cold as -30°C
, and below that,supplemental heating may be required
. Edmonton sees that week most winters. Plan the backup in, on purpose, with the circuit sized for it.A regular heat pump is not a cold-climate heat pump
Same source, and this is the number that matters when you compare two quotes. A conventional air-source unit may need supplemental heat once it is
between -10C to -15C
. That is a normal Edmonton November. If a quote does not say cold-climate rated, assume it is not.It is a fuel switch, so the savings depend on two rates
- You stop buying some gas and start buying more electricity. Whether that is cheaper depends on your electricity rate against your gas rate, and neither one is a number I get to promise you.
- This is also exactly why pairing it with solar is the play, because then you are producing the electricity the pump runs on.
Temperature thresholds quoted verbatim from Natural Resources Canada on heat pumps, read August 2026.
Asked on the phone, most weeks
Five questions I get, answered straight.
My HVAC quote says wiring is included. What does that usually mean?
Nine times out of ten it means a subtrade is being called, and the line item is a placeholder written before anybody looked in your panel. Sometimes it is a real number from a real electrician. Ask two questions and you will know which one you have. Who is the electrician, and did they do a load calculation on this house. If the answer to the second one is no, the number is a guess, and guesses on the electrical half are the ones that come back as a change order after the pump is already on the wall.
Do I need a panel upgrade to run a heat pump?
Maybe, and nobody can tell you from a phone call. It depends on your service size, what the house already draws in January, and how full the bus is. A 200 A service with empty slots usually takes a heat pump circuit without drama. A 100 A service that is already carrying an electric range, a hot tub and a garage heater often does not. That is why the load calculation happens before the quote, not after the deposit.
Can Raydn install the heat pump itself?
No, and I would be careful with anybody who says they do both. The refrigerant side is a mechanical trade with its own certification, and it should be done by an HVAC contractor who does it every day. I do the electrical: the load calculation, the panel work, the circuit, the outdoor disconnect, the permit. If you do not have an HVAC contractor lined up, ask me and I will tell you who I would call for my own house.
Will it actually work through an Edmonton winter?
A cold-climate unit will carry most of the season, and you still need backup heat for the coldest stretch. Natural Resources Canada says cold-climate pumps can operate when outdoor air temperatures are as cold as -30°C
, and that below that supplemental heating may be required
. Edmonton gets there most winters. So the honest design is a heat pump plus a backup, sized and wired on purpose, rather than a pump sold as a total furnace replacement.
What drives the price of the electrical half?
Three things, in this order. Whether your service and panel can take the load as they sit, because a service upgrade is a bigger job than a circuit. How far the outdoor unit is from the panel, because a long run means heavier conductor. And what the pump's rating plate asks for, since the breaker and wire get sized to it. I would rather walk your basement for twenty minutes and give you a real number than guess one over the phone and revise it later.
Thinking about a heat pump?
Start with the electrical review. We’ll tell you whether your panel can handle the load, connect you with an HVAC partner, and coordinate the two installs so it’s one project, not two.