Ontario's Plain-English Guide to Custom Home Building📞 705-533-1633 | ☎️ 1-866-868-6606 | ✉️ info@icfhome.ca
Home Heating in Ontario: Every System Compared, What Each Costs to Install and Run, and How to Choose
Heating and efficiency Choosing a system From a builder
Home Heating in Ontario: Every System Compared, What Each Costs to Install and Run, and How to Choose
Roughly two-thirds of the energy an Ontario house uses goes to keeping it warm, so this is the decision that shows up on every bill for thirty years. I have installed most of the systems below and heated our showhome for about a hundred dollars a month in January with one of them. Here is the whole menu, priced.
Short version: Three decisions, in order: shrink the load (air sealing, insulation, windows), pick the fuel (electricity through a heat pump is now the cheapest and cleanest in most of Ontario; gas is close where the line already exists; propane and oil are the expensive ones), then pick the distribution (forced air if you want central cooling in the same ducts, radiant floors if you want the best comfort and the lowest water temperatures). For a new house in 2026 the usual winners are a cold-climate air-source heat pump with forced air or a heat pump feeding radiant floors; geothermal for big, all-electric or rural houses; gas where the line is at the road and the budget is tight. Size any of them from a CSA F280 heat loss, not a rule of thumb.
First, shrink the load
The cheapest heat is the heat you do not need. A house that leaks air at 5 changes per hour needs twice the furnace of one at 1.5, and the oversized furnace short-cycles and costs more every year. Air seal, insulate past the Code minimum, put the money into windows, and then size the system. Air sealing an Ontario home, insulating the house and how to buy windows are that order. An ICF house starts with most of this done.
The heat sources, compared
| System | Installed (new house, 2026) | Cost to run | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cold-climate air-source heat pump, ducted | $15,000 to $25,000 | Low: COP 2.5 to 3.5 seasonal | Heating and cooling in one; backup element or gas for the coldest days; needs a good envelope |
| Ground-source (geothermal) heat pump | $30,000 to $55,000 | Lowest: COP 3.5 to 5 | Flat efficiency all winter; land or drilling; long life; see geothermal costs |
| Natural gas furnace, 96 percent | $6,000 to $10,000 plus AC | Low to moderate; delivery charges are half the bill | Only where the line exists; add central AC separately |
| Gas or electric boiler with radiant floors | $20,000 to $40,000 with the floor | Low with a heat pump or condensing boiler | Best comfort; cooling needs a separate system; see radiant floor cost |
| Electric baseboard or electric furnace | $3,000 to $8,000 | Highest: COP 1 | Cheap to install, expensive forever; fine as backup only |
| Propane furnace or boiler | $7,000 to $12,000 plus tank | High; propane is the dear fuel | Rural default when gas is absent; a heat pump beats it |
| Oil furnace or boiler | $8,000 to $14,000 plus tank | High; insurance and tank rules | Replacement market only; nobody should install new oil in 2026 |
| Wood or pellet stove or boiler | $4,000 to $15,000 | Low if you cut it yourself; your time otherwise | Backup or supplement; WETT inspection for insurance |
| Solar thermal | $7,000 to $12,000 | Free after install | Hot water and shoulder-season floor heat; not a primary system here |
Operating costs assume Ontario electricity around 15 to 18 cents per kWh all-in and gas, propane and oil at recent prices; gas vs heat pump operating cost runs the arithmetic on a real house.
The distribution: air or water
Forced air moves heat through ducts and gives you central cooling, filtration and the HRV connection in the same system. It is the Ontario default and it is fine when the ducts are sized and sealed properly, which they often are not. Hydronic radiant moves heat through water in the floor (or panels and radiators), which is quieter, more even, lets a heat pump or boiler run at low water temperatures where it is most efficient, and feels better underfoot in a tiled bathroom in February. It does not cool; a radiant house gets a small ducted or ductless system for summer. Radiant heat vs forced air is the full comparison; flooring over radiant answers the next question.
How we choose, for a new house
- Heat loss first: a CSA F280 room-by-room calculation. The number sets every size after it. Radiant heating design explains what the report includes.
- Fuel: if the gas line is at the road, gas is cheap to install and moderate to run; if not, do not bring in propane or oil for a new house, go to a heat pump.
- Heat pump type: air-source for most houses, ground-source for large, all-electric, radiant or rural ones where the loop pays back. Cold-climate air-source heat pumps covers the limits.
- Distribution: radiant if comfort and quiet matter most and the budget allows; forced air if central cooling in one system matters most.
- Ventilation: an HRV or ERV regardless; a tight house has to breathe on purpose. HRV vs ERV picks between them.
- Backup: a plan for the coldest week and for an outage. Power outages in an ICF house is ours.
What the showhome does
For the record: our showhome in Tiny Township is ICF, super-insulated, with hydronic radiant floors, and it has cost about $100 a month to heat in the coldest part of winter. Nobody lives in it, so there is no hot water or cooking in that number; it is the building, holding its heat. The system is not exotic. The envelope is. That is the whole guide in one sentence, and you can come and stand in it in January.
Related guides on this site
Sources and further reading
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest way to heat a house in Ontario?
Per unit of heat, a ground-source heat pump, then a cold-climate air-source heat pump, then natural gas, then wood you cut yourself. Electric resistance, propane and oil are the expensive ones. The cheapest system of all is a tight, well-insulated house that needs very little.
Heat pump or gas furnace for a new house in Ontario?
If the gas line is at the road, gas installs cheaply and runs moderately; a heat pump costs more to install, runs cheaper in most of the province, provides cooling, and avoids the second utility bill. Without a gas line, a heat pump wins outright over propane or oil.
What size furnace or heat pump do I need?
Whatever the CSA F280 heat loss calculation says, room by room. Rules of thumb by square footage oversize most new houses, and oversized equipment short-cycles, costs more and is less comfortable.
Is radiant floor heating worth it?
For comfort, quiet and efficiency with a heat pump or condensing boiler, yes; it costs more to install and needs a separate cooling solution. Forced air is the better fit when central cooling in one system is the priority.
Size it from a heat loss, not a guess
Every heating choice starts with the heat loss of your actual house. OntarioHeatLoss.ca produces the CSA F280 calculation and the mechanical design your permit needs, anywhere in Ontario.
Reviewed and updated October 2026. Costs are Ontario ranges, not quotes; code references are to the Ontario Building Code in force at that date.
I found it interesting that you state that forced air distribution is the most common form of distribution system. My brother and his wife are building a new house and want to have an efficient method for heating. I will send them this information so they can make sure to hire a heating installation service that can get them what they want.
I find it odd that you fail to mention propane as one of the most common heating fuels or any mention of propane at all for that matter. More and more homes are converting from wood, wood\oil, electric forced air furnaces to propane forced air furnaces in rural Ontario;unless you’re including it as natural gas which would be very misleading and\or confusing for the average consumer.
We have the option of paying for a natural gas pipeline installation on our street or opting for different fuel type when we build our home. The cost of the pipeline installation on our street would be an additional 23 cents a cubic metre per gas used until it is payed off in roughly 40 years. What is our best option? We have not built our home yet.
Annual maintenance is the key to ensuring that your heater stands the test of time and that it provides you with the quality performance that you deserve.