Emergency HVAC in Toronto, ON

A deeper look at how Toronto conditions shape the emergency hvac work owners actually need.

Toronto HVAC emergency service is dominated by the no heat scenario from October through April, with peak call volume in January and February when the city records its coldest sustained temperatures. The natural gas furnace is the primary heating system in the majority of Toronto detached and semi detached homes built after 1960, and these furnaces range in age from new installations to units installed in the mid 1980s that are approaching or past 40 years of service. A 40 year old furnace that has not been annually serviced under TSSA requirements is a furnace that is likely to fail during the January polar vortex, because the January polar vortex is when it is running at maximum duty cycle for the first time in months. The most common emergency failure modes in older Toronto furnaces are ignition system failure (hot surface igniter or pilot ignition system), inducer motor failure, heat exchanger crack that produces a TSSA regulated shutdown, and pressure switch failure. Most of these failures are diagnosable and repairable in a single emergency dispatch if the technician carries the right parts. Bridgepoint's emergency HVAC vehicles are stocked with the most common failure components for the furnace brands prevalent in Toronto residential stock, which allows a same night diagnostic and repair rather than a parts order and return tomorrow sequence. When a furnace is not repairable on the same night because the required part is not available, Bridgepoint bridges the gap with temporary electric heat supply, typically space heaters with sufficient capacity to maintain the 21 degree RTA minimum in the affected units, while the parts are sourced for next day repair or while the replacement furnace is arranged. This bridge prevents the landlord from being in violation of the RTA heating standard overnight.

The boiler no heat scenario is more common in Toronto's older pre war and interwar housing stock in The Annex, Roncesvalles, Leslieville, and parts of Scarborough that retain original or replacement hot water radiator systems. Boiler failures have specific failure modes including circulator pump failure, pressure relief valve failure, zone valve failure, and burner or thermocouple failure on older standing pilot systems. A circulator pump failure, which stops hot water circulation through the radiator loop and produces a cold radiator system even though the boiler is firing, is a common emergency in older Toronto cast iron boiler installations and is typically a same night repairable event with the right circulator pump in stock. Summer no cooling events in Toronto, while not a safety emergency in the same category as winter no heat, are a tenant relations and lease obligation issue. A commercial tenant in a North York office building who loses cooling on a 35 degree Celsius July afternoon cannot work in the affected space, and the lease typically gives the landlord 24 to 48 hours to restore mechanical systems to working order. Bridgepoint's summer HVAC emergency dispatch covers refrigerant leak assessment, compressor failure diagnostics, and capacitor and contactor replacement, which are the most common summer HVAC failure modes in Toronto's residential and commercial stock. All gas appliance emergency work is performed by TSSA licensed gas fitters. All refrigerant handling is performed by federally certified refrigerant technicians.