Canada · CSA F280-12 methodology
Load calcs built for Canada, not converted for it.
Type the postal code, punch in the envelope, hit calculate. You get an F280-based heating and cooling load with real design temperatures for that town, plus a client-ready PDF, before you’re back in the truck.
- iPhone & iPad
- English + Français
- Metric first
- Works offline
Who it’s for
For the contractor quoting furnace swaps and heat pump retrofits.
Canadian residential HVAC contractors sizing replacements, AC adds, and cold-climate heat pumps. If you’re still working off square footage and a gut feel, this replaces that. It’s the Canadian sibling of our US Manual J app, rebuilt around Canadian standards and Canadian weather. An honest country build, not an international mode.
- Postal code in, design conditions out. Three characters of your postal code pulls heating and cooling design temperatures from NRCan HOT2000 data. 403 weather stations, 1,651 postal areas, all 13 provinces and territories.
- Built on CSA F280-12 methodology. Envelope losses, air leakage, CSA F326 continuous ventilation with HRV and ERV credit, and internal gains, computed in watts. Planning estimates for quoting, not a stamped compliance document.
- Basements done right. Below-grade walls and slabs lose heat to the deep earth, not the January air. The app models that depth-dependent loss, which is often a big slice of the load in a Canadian home.
- Cold-climate heat pumps. It finds the balance point where falling capacity meets the house’s heat loss, and tells you how much backup heat the design day needs.
- Real northern sun angles. Solar gain is figured by window direction up to 70 degrees north, so a Yellowknife job isn’t modelled like it’s in Ohio.
- A PDF the homeowner can hold. Your logo, tagged site photos from the walkthrough, the load breakdown, and the recommended equipment size. Share it from the driveway.
- English and French. Full French-Canadian localization reviewed by a Quebec native speaker, right down to “entretoit.”
- Metric first, imperial when you want it. Two calculation modes today, Quick and Moderate, with a Pro tier coming. Projects sync between iPhone and iPad over iCloud.
The numbers behind the numbers
Canadian data, named sources.
- Methodology: CSA F280-12, Canada’s residential heat loss and gain standard. ACCA Manual J 8th Edition is also selectable per project.
- Ventilation: continuous rate per CSA F326, driven by bedroom count, with sensible-recovery credit for HRV and ERV units.
- Climate data: NRCan HOT2000 dataset under the Open Government Licence: 2.5 percent January heating dry-bulb, July 2.5 percent cooling dry-bulb with coincident wet-bulb, and HDD18 for every mapped postal area.
- Pro-grade inputs: blower door CFM50 override, per-project window U-factor override, and heat pump balance point settings.
- Honest scope: results are planning estimates. Final sizing should be verified by a licensed HVAC professional, and the app says so on every report.
Get it
Winnipeg in January is not a rule-of-thumb town.