Residential Ground Source Heat Pump Program

You must own the Manitoba home, sign the agreement and be a Manitoba Hydro customer eligible for electricity tariffs. Efficiency Manitoba checks the property title and outstanding financial obligations. The home must be your year-round principal residence, or rented to tenants year-round; vacant and seasonal homes are excluded. It must be heated throughout September–May, with the installed ground-source system as its primary heat source.

Existing and new homes can qualify. Retrofit routes cover homes primarily heated by electric furnaces or boilers, electric baseboards, natural gas, propane or oil. Homes primarily heated by an existing ground-source system can qualify for its replacement. Only one application per residence is accepted. Approval is required before any purchase or work; projects already started or completed are excluded.

Use an Efficiency Manitoba registered contractor that is recognized and in good standing with the Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance (MGEA), obtains its permits and employs a refrigeration mechanic licensed in Manitoba. The owner and contractor must obtain the applicable building, electrical, gas and other permits and comply with building-code requirements.

The programme supports water-source units using ground loops or groundwater wells, including water-to-air systems that deliver warm air and water-to-water systems that heat a water circuit. Direct-expansion systems that circulate refrigerant underground, standing-column-well systems that draw water from deep in a well and return it to the upper part of the same well, air-source systems and systems using internal heat sources are excluded. Equipment must be new and certified under CSA or ARI/ISO 13256, Part 1 or 2 as appropriate; design and installation must meet the current ANSI/CSA C448 standard.

Have the qualified designer address these requirements:

• A software-generated ground-loop design report and scaled site drawings. Groundwater wells and closed-loop boreholes need a five-foot property-line setback. Submit drawings showing the loop as actually installed at completion.
• For larger or more complex buildings classified under Part 3 of the building code, an engineer-sealed mechanical-system and loop-field drawing. For Part 9 housing and small buildings, use a commercial ground-loop designer who completed a recognized commercial loop-design course. The local authority alone can exempt a project from the professional-designer requirement; submit its written exemption with the application. Part 9 air-distribution ducts require a designer with a recognized commercial air-distribution course; heating-water circuits require a recognized hydronic-design course.
• Capacity for up to 100% of the building’s base heat loss through walls, roofs and other surfaces and air leaks, without occupant heat gains, and at least 1,500 equivalent full-output hours of heating during September–May: the heat delivered must equal running at full capacity for at least that many hours. Domestic hot-water heating and intermittent ventilation or door-opening loads are excluded from eligible sizing. Continuous ventilation assumes heat recovery; additional continuous loads are assessed individually.
• Minimum design water temperature entering the heat pump of −1°C; when calculating the ground-loop length needed for heating, the designer may allow for internal electrical loads of no more than 20 watts per square metre. This is an input to the heating-design calculation, not a household electricity-use limit. Loop-pump electrical power is capped at 22 watts per kilowatt of heat-pump heating output. Pumps must run only when heating or cooling is needed; circulating fan motors must be direct-current (DC) type.
• Accessible temperature and flow monitoring: thermometers covering at least −15°C to 40°C with 1°C accuracy in the main supply and return loops, plus visible flow meters; alternatively, the manufacturer’s monitoring package must give you live and historic loop flow rates and water and air temperatures.

Heat-pump capacity is rated at entering water temperatures of 32°F for closed loops or 50°F for open groundwater loops under CAN/CSA-C13256-1-01. Closed loops recirculate heat-transfer fluid; open loops draw groundwater. These are the equipment-rating conditions, separate from the minimum design temperature.

Disclose funding from other programmes. Other federal, provincial, Hydro or Efficiency Manitoba energy-conservation assistance may make equipment ineligible unless Efficiency Manitoba agrees in writing. Where combined assistance is accepted, its contribution is reduced by other support so total payments do not exceed project cost.

Status

Nabór ciągły

Ograniczenia naboru

• Eligible Manitoba homes. Written approval before purchases or work; system installed and operational within 12 months after approval.

Choose a registered contractor from the official offer’s directory. The contractor submits the application, itemized quote, building heat-loss calculation and loop design. You receive a link to accept the terms. Wait for Efficiency Manitoba’s written approval before purchasing any system components or starting work. Once approved, install an operational system within 12 months.

The heat-loss report must separate heat transfer through building components, air leakage and ventilation. The guide uses a maximum infiltration allowance of 0.2–0.3 air changes per hour. It accepts manual or spreadsheet calculations following ASHRAE, HRAI or CSA F280 methods, and software using ASHRAE or HRAI methods. Include the detailed report and new-home floor plans where applicable; provide model files if requested. The loop design must show its location, dimensions, nearby buildings, utilities and property lines, plus the software report. For an open-loop system, supply the well-information report at application or, if not yet available, with the completion documents.

The contractor obtains the relevant permits before installation. The guide identifies additional Winnipeg development and waterway permits, including work within 110 metres of a river or 75 metres of a creek; injection wells also require permits. Copies of applicable permits are required before payment.

When the system is installed and operating, the contractor submits its signed completion declaration, invoices, MGEA commissioning/completion form, electrical and other permits, and final loop drawings. Provide the engineering completion certificate where required, or the applicable letter confirming engineered design is not required. Sign your own completion declaration only when satisfied with the installation; otherwise the contractor must first put it right.

Efficiency Manitoba pays correct contractor invoices within 30 days of receiving all required documents; a corrected invoice restarts that period. Your monthly repayments then begin under the agreement. Keep the equipment in place for at least 36 months after installation, allow inspections during that period and arrange the funded one-year service visit. Obtain consent before reselling removed or transferred equipment except as scrap. Notify Efficiency Manitoba immediately of relevant application changes throughout participation, including written notice of design or ownership changes. Report proposed changes before installation. Noncompliance, account termination or specified insolvency events can cancel funding and make outstanding repayments immediately due. Programme changes or termination can affect pending applications.