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?...

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?

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.

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.

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.

Heat pump installers aren't like car mechanics. Once you pick a contractor, you're locked in. Homeowners underestimate that risk. Budget contractors are great when everything goes well—but I got a call from an unlucky homeowner who isn't having that experience.

Even in tight spaces, you can do a big return air drop and a thick filter. If you install premium equipment poorly, it'll perform poorly and fail early. Increasing the size of the return air drop and filter surface area can significantly improve heat pump performance. The goal is happy homeowners.

COME TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!... I mean, uh, heat pump webinar. Today at noon. It's everything you need to know about heat pumps and building science with none of the jargon. I promise not to say "thermodynamics" even once.

It’s also my birthday… and my wife’s birthday! Lots of reasons to celebrate.

FREE webinar on Wednesday (my birthday!). A group of people listening to me talk about heat pumps: I couldn't ask for a better gift! No industry jargon, no technical details, no mention of the refrigerant cycle or thermodynamics. Just simple answers to "what are heat pumps, and why should I care?"

A homeowner 1,700+ km from me is using the book as an easy first step to learn about right-sized HVAC and home performance before upgrading. I have nothing to sell him, but it increases the odds that he has a remarkable experience with heat pumps and pushes the electrification movement forward.

Check out my thoughts on electrification, the HVAC industry, changing business models, and a framework to build a personal brand & influence. It also goes deep into a business-baseball analogy. Find out why PE-backed contractors are the Oakland Athletics of the HVAC industry. 🤔

This contractor has a 90% failure rate on heat pumps. Heat pumps require more expertise and attention-to-detail to install properly. Traditional furnaces and ACs were comparatively simple to install, so contractor quality didn't matter as much. But it matters with heat pumps.

My book (Feel-Good Homes) launched! I'm giving away a Kindle to celebrate. Everyone deserves a comfortable, healthy, sustainable home. But electrification and home performance are hard. So, "Feel-Good Homes" is a simple first step. I made it short and conversational. It's for average homeowners.

How cold is too cold for a heat pump? Many heat pumps are rated down to -30’C. The last time it was -30’C in Toronto was one *billion* seconds ago (January 1994).

"You don't need people's opinions on a fact." Science doesn't care about opinions. John Oliver’s original video was about climate change. But there’s been a rise of "do your own research". So now it applies to more topics than ever. Above political ideology, I stand with science.

@shreyassudhakar.com and @energysmartwv.bsky.social A homeowner asked to replace their "cold-air heat pump" with a "hot+cold heat pump". It gave me #2wayAC vibes.

'Comfort advisors' don't care about comfort. They swap old, oversized furnaces with new, oversized furnaces in 'no heat' emergencies. They're just salespeople slinging furnaces. A real 'comfort advisor' would run a heat load, investigate the comfort problem, and recommend a right-sized heat pump.

🔴 An oversized furnace doesn't let the house get cold, ever. 🟡 That comes at the expense of comfort. 🟢 Because comfort is solved by right-sized HVAC. ➡️ So, if you replace an old, oversized furnace with a new, oversized furnace, don't be surprised when you have the same comfort problems.

Heat pumps are ACs that can heat and cool. Central units look like a furnace/AC. A heat pump includes both indoor and outdoor units. The indoor air handler (fan) looks like a furnace. And the outdoor unit is like a traditional AC. It helps to explain this to homeowners. Heat pumps look familiar.

‘Cold snap anxiety’ is a real thing. It's ‘range anxiety’ for heat pumps. I'm officially coining the term. "How do you get heat from cold air?" "I'm keeping my gas furnace, just in case." "I heard heat pumps don't work below freezing." These are real concerns for homeowners. 1/3 🧵

Humans are comfortable around 20–27°C. And that's why heat pumps aren't intuitive. We think about temperatures as either Celsius or Fahrenheit. And cold snaps can be negative values on those scales. So we tend to assume that cold air has no energy. Thread 1/4 🧵

I talk to homeowners every day. And it's the same conversation. So, I compiled those explanations, stories, questions, and objections into ‘Feel-Good Homes’ (available March 25 on Amazon). It's a practical guide to transforming an average house into a comfortable, healthy, sustainable home.

Imagine a car that can't drive slower than 100 km/h. That's what a gas furnace does. Welcome to your new car! You tap the pedal and your head snaps back. It jolts into 'full acceleration', trying to go from zero to 100. Almost immediately, you're driving 70 km/h on a 50 road. Thread 1/5 🧵

I wish air-to-air heat pumps were this cool. Hydronics definitely win on ‘cool factor’. Old houses with radiators are the toughest to electrify. I wonder if an electric boiler paired with minisplits is the way forward—add a ventilating dehumidifier for better IAQ and dehumidification.

Would you buy an EV that only works in the summer? No? Then why buy AC instead of a heat pump… Canadians only use ACs for a few months each year. And the rest of the time it just sits there, waiting. There's no need to own two separate systems. Heat pumps are ACs that can heat and cool.

Today is the saddest day of the year. 😔 Did you know that heat pumps can help? 🌦️ Right-sized HVAC leads to better homeowner experiences. For most Canadians, 'right-sized' means heat pumps. They're the path to comfortable, healthy homes. Thread 1/6 🧵

Heat pumps can make dangerous ice patches. The defrost cycles clears the outdoor unit from ice and snow, but the melt drips to the ground and can refreeze. At Foundry Heat Pumps, we build a wood frame and fill it with rocks. It solves the ice problem—and who says a heat pump can’t look great? 🤔

A new rebate program is launching in Ontario. 🎉 PSA: But don't just chase the money. 🤔 What problem are you trying to solve in your house? It's important to pick the *right* solution. Not just the eligible one.

Right-sized HVAC is still wrong, sometimes. ⛔ The range of outdoor temps is too wide. 😬 Equipment is sized for the 1% coldest hours of the year. That metric is called the 99% design temperature. Only 3-4 days per year (on avg) are colder. Thread 1/7 🧵

Callbacks kill profitability, so contractors found a solution. 💡 From their point of view, oversizing HVAC is great. 👀 It eliminates the risk of a furnace being too small. 💥 1/4 🧵

I spent less on hot water than you. 💰 And I did it with resistance heat. ⚡️ The trick is to take advantage of off-peak power. 💡 1/7 🧵

This has ozone vibes. “Remember when everyone made a fuss about the ozone. They invented new problems and stopped talking about it. Climate change is such BS.” Uh, yeah, it’s one of the best examples of successful global cooperation—we fixed it. 🤔

Grid reliability isn’t homeowners’ responsibility. It should have no impact on your personal decision to electrify. If you wanted to buy an AC or hot tub, nobody argues with you about the grid. It’s an anti-heat pump talking point — try it as such.

"I don't care about the planet." 🪐 That's how people feel about electrification. 🤔 But electrification isn't just about climate change. It's a movement to improve our quality of life. By spending time in remarkable places. I electrified for better family comfort, health, and safety. 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 🧵 1/3

I’m not coming for your gas stove or furnace — I just want homeowners to understand their options and make good, informed choices. Because right-sized heat pumps are a tool to improve home comfort, health, and safety. 1/3

‘Efficiency’ doesn’t matter. 🧵 Not across fuels, at least. Induction is better than gas stoves because it doesn’t leak poison into the air, give kids asthma, carry the risk of explosion, and it has a great user experience. Homeowners don’t care whether induction is more efficient or not. 1/2

Modern heat pumps work down to -30C (-22F). -14C is a walk in the park for a heat pump, as long as it was sized properly, installed well, and that temp isn’t significantly colder than the 99% design temperature.

For anyone that needs to hear it: zero issues with my heat pump in Canada today (-12C / 10F). They work in cold climates.

Here's a great read from @chrisbaraniuk.com. Don't get *too* excited,though. Yes, heat pumps with COPs above 5 would be great—higher efficiency means savings, but there's a downside risk... 🧵

I agree with this 100%. When I talk to homeowners with “but the grid!” concerns, I tell them four things: 1) We’re talking about a hypothetical problem that *might* occur in the future. 2) Every region has a grid operator—in Ontario, it’s the IESO—and there’s a professional team dedicated to… 🧵

This article talks about community-level benefits but there’s a selfish reason too: to breathe clean air in your own house. Imagine drinking dirty, polluted water and thinking 'It’s fine—my liver will filter out the bugs and bacteria.' Disgusting, but that's our default solution to air pollution. 🤮

Gas stoves are better than electric. ⁉️ Sure, and horses are faster than cars. 🤔 Both were true—at one point in history. ⏳ But they need to be updated to modern times. When someone says “gas stoves are better”. The comparison is to old electric models. 1/4 🧵