Residential · GTA & Southern Ontario
Most geothermal websites in this market lead with a lifestyle photo and a form. This page is for the owner who wants to know whether the ground under their property can actually heat the house — and who is answerable if it cannot.
The line is answered 24 hours a day by an automated assistant that books a real site visit. It is not a technician at 2am, and we will not pretend it is.
Who this is for
Rural, lakefront and estate houses on propane, oil or electric resistance are most of the residential work. On a gas main, geothermal usually costs more to run than the furnace you already have — we say that on the first visit, not after a deposit.
Existing ductwork, an old mechanical room, a house that was never designed for a heat pump. We size to the heat loss, not the square footage. A leaky 1960s side-split and a tight 2015 build of the same size are two different jobs.
If the water is deep enough, a closed lake loop is often the least destructive option — coils sunk, one trench up the bank, nothing taken from the lake. Ontario sets a 2 m minimum depth for submerged closed loops. The lake is evaluated, not assumed.
When there is no open land, the answer is vertical boreholes — or it is no. A drill rig needs a route in. Fences, mature trees and a side yard that will not take a mast change the job, and occasionally they end it. We would rather say no in the driveway than yes on a drawing that cannot be built.
The four loops
A company that only trenches will find a way to trench your lot. Most of what we install is horizontal, lake, or open well. Vertical is there when the lot is tight. One indoor machine either way.
Horizontal
Pipe in long trenches, typically several metres down, then backfilled and reseeded. Cheapest loop when there is open, diggable ground. Loudest week of the job. If the yard is a garden you love, this is the wrong loop.
Vertical
Narrow holes, hundreds of feet, a U-bend of pipe grouted in. Smallest surface scar. In Ontario a vertical closed loop can need an Environmental Compliance Approval; whether yours does is checked on the site visit, not guessed. That is part of a proper job — not a surprise after the rig arrives.
Lake / pond
Nothing is taken from the lake. The same fluid goes round a sealed loop. Needs enough depth and the right permits. When the site allows it, it is the least invasive option we install.
Open well
Real well water through the heat pump, then returned. Can be the cheapest loop where yield and water quality are right. Iron, hardness and sediment are not theoretical — they foul equipment. We test before we promise.
What you can hold us to
An undersized loop leans on backup electric heat all winter. That is where the horror stories about hydro bills come from — not “geothermal,” a loop that was never designed for the house. We size against a heat-loss calculation. If the lot cannot take the loop the house needs, we tell you before anyone digs.
We will walk the lot, look at the mechanical room, and tell you whether this is the right call — including when it is not.
