Furnace and Air Conditioner Repair in Markham: Subdivision Equipment and the Condos With No Furnace at All

Subdivision equipment, ageing by neighbourhood

A house from the late 1980s in Unionville or Milliken is probably on its second furnace, a mid-efficiency or early high-efficiency unit that is now at the end of its life, with a control board and heat exchanger that are hard or uneconomic to replace. A 2000s house in Berczy, Cornell or Greensborough likely still has the builder’s high-efficiency furnace and original air conditioner, where igniters, flame sensors, condensate faults and outdoor capacitors are the common failures. Whole streets reach these points together, and local HVAC companies know the postal codes.

Builder ductwork is frequently undersized and leaky, so a new furnace does not fix a cold upstairs bedroom. Ask any company quoting a replacement to test static pressure and check the returns.

Condos on district energy

Markham District Energy supplies heating and cooling water to many buildings in downtown Markham and Cornell Centre from central plants. A suite in those buildings has a fan coil that blows air over a coil fed by the building loop; there is no furnace, no condenser and no gas. The building decides when the loop switches from cooling to heating, which is why a suite can be cold in October whatever the thermostat says. Inside the suite, the fan motor, thermostat, valve actuator, filter and condensate drain are usually the owner’s responsibility under the condominium declaration; the risers are common elements.

Fan coil filters need changing monthly in season, and a blocked condensate pan is the most common cause of water damage claims in these buildings. Before hiring anyone, ask property management which contractors are approved and whether a riser shutdown is needed.

Who may do the work in Ontario

Gas furnaces fall under the Technical Standards and Safety Authority: the technician on the gas side must hold a TSSA gas technician certificate, and a replacement is registered and inspected. Refrigerant work needs a certified technician. Electrical work on the furnace or condenser circuit belongs to a licensed electrical contractor under the Electrical Safety Authority; Alectra is the utility if a service change is involved. If you smell gas, leave the house before calling, then phone Enbridge Gas’s 24-hour emergency line, on every bill, or 911 from outside.

Ontario’s fire code requires carbon monoxide alarms in homes with fuel-burning appliances. District-energy condos have none, but the alarm rule applies to any suite with a gas fireplace or range.

• Furnace and AC make, model and age
• Flashing code on the furnace board
• Filter condition
• For a condo: whether the building loop has switched seasons, and the approved contractor list
• Rebate paperwork if replacement is on the table

Repair or replace, with the rebates counted

Get the diagnosis first. A capacitor, igniter or flame sensor on equipment under fifteen years old is normally worth repairing; a cracked heat exchanger or a failed compressor on old equipment usually is not. Ask for both the repair quote and a replacement quote in writing, and ask what rebates Enbridge or the federal government currently offer, because those change with each budget.

A cold-climate heat pump replaces both the furnace and the air conditioner in a Markham house, with a backup for the coldest weeks. Ask installers for the balance point for your home and whether the backup is in the quote.