HVAC sizing in Canada, province by province

The sizing calculators on this site ask for a heating band in BTU per square foot. IECC climate zones stop at the border, so these pages give you the band from Canadian heating degree-days instead — one page per province and territory, built on Environment and Climate Change Canada normals.

Pick your province. Each page lists the annual heating degree-days and January temperatures for its major centres, converts them into the heating band the furnace-size and heat-pump-size tools accept, and works an example through to a BTU/h figure. Several provinces span more than one band, which is exactly why a national number is not useful.

British ColumbiaVancouver · 2,781 heating degree-days · Mild winter (~30 BTU/sq ft)AlbertaCalgary · 4,994 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)SaskatchewanRegina · 5,626 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)ManitobaWinnipeg · 5,672 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)OntarioToronto · 3,434 heating degree-days · Moderate (~40 BTU/sq ft)QuebecMontreal · 4,281 heating degree-days · Moderate (~40 BTU/sq ft)New BrunswickFredericton · 4,601 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)Nova ScotiaHalifax · 4,189 heating degree-days · Moderate (~40 BTU/sq ft)Prince Edward IslandCharlottetown · 4,517 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)Newfoundland and LabradorSt. John's · 4,690 heating degree-days · Cold (~50 BTU/sq ft)YukonWhitehorse · 6,491 heating degree-days · Very cold (~60 BTU/sq ft)Northwest TerritoriesYellowknife · 8,009 heating degree-days · Very cold (~60 BTU/sq ft)NunavutIqaluit · 9,642 heating degree-days · Very cold (~60 BTU/sq ft)

How the band is chosen

Annual heating degree-days below 18 °C measure how much heating a location needs over a year. We map them onto the four bands the calculators offer:

Heating degree-days (18 °C)BandHeating BTU/sq ft
Under 3,000Mild winter~30
3,000 – 4,499Moderate~40
4,500 – 5,999Cold~50
6,000 and aboveVery cold~60

The bands themselves are the same rule-of-thumb BTU-per-square-foot figures used throughout the site, and the mapping above is ours — a way to pick a sensible band, not a code requirement. See BTU per square foot by climate zone for the bands themselves and Methodology for how we handle estimates.

Before you buy equipment: these bands are rule-of-thumb estimates from degree-days, not a load calculation. Canadian equipment sizing is done against the January 2.5% design temperature for your municipality, published in Appendix C of the National Building Code of Canada (and reproduced in provincial codes), and against a CSA F280 or Manual J load calculation for your specific house. Ask your contractor for theirs. Gas, electrical and refrigerant work must be done by a licensed professional.