AC installation and replacement in Scarborough, Durham and the GTA
A new air conditioner is three decisions: which type of system suits the building, what capacity the building actually needs, and how carefully the installation is finished. The third decides whether the equipment performs the way its rating says it should, and it is the one that never appears on a quote.
Metropolitan Heating and Air Conditioning has installed cooling equipment across Scarborough, Durham Region and the GTA since 1979. We install Carrier, Lennox, Napoleon, Trane, Bosch and Daikin, and work on all makes and models.
Call (416) 283-5698, Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Three ways to cool a building
Central air conditioning. A condenser outside, an evaporator coil in the plenum above your furnace, the furnace blower moving the air. Where sound ductwork exists, cooling borrows the distribution the heating already uses.
Ductless mini-splits. One outdoor unit feeding individual indoor heads, no ducts at all. They earn their place in additions, converted attics and any room the ducts never properly reached, and each head is controlled separately. See ductless mini-splits.
Heat pumps. The same refrigeration cycle with a reversing valve, so it runs in both directions. In summer it cools as a central AC does; through the shoulder seasons and much of an Ontario winter it heats, with a furnace covering the coldest stretches. If you are replacing cooling equipment anyway, price a heat pump beside it — most of the work is identical.
Capacity comes from a load calculation, not from the old nameplate
Cooling load has two halves. Sensible load is the heat you feel as temperature. Latent load is the moisture the system condenses out of the air. An oversized unit satisfies the thermostat on sensible load, shuts off, and never runs long enough to deal with the latent half — which is why it leaves a house that is cold and still feels damp, along with short cycling that wears the compressor and its controls.
The calculation works from the building as it stands: floor area and layout, window area and orientation, insulation, air tightness, how the space is used, and what the ducts can carry. The capacity of the unit coming out is a data point, not an answer, because sizing errors get inherited from one replacement to the next.
What an efficiency rating buys you
SEER describes how much cooling a system delivers per unit of electricity across a season. A higher rating costs more up front and less to run, so payback depends on how many cooling hours you put on it — and an Ontario cooling season is shorter than the climates these ratings are marketed in.
Staging is a separate question and often the more noticeable one. A single-stage unit is either fully on or fully off. A two-stage or variable-speed unit runs gently at part load most of the season, holding temperature steadier, removing more moisture and running quieter. We put the tiers side by side with their running costs.
What installation day involves
Floors and the working route are protected. The old unit comes out with its refrigerant recovered rather than vented, as the regulations require.
The new condenser is set level with the clearances its manufacturer specifies, and the indoor coil is matched to it and fitted in the plenum. The line set is run and brazed, pressure-tested for leaks, then evacuated with a vacuum pump — that step pulls moisture and non-condensable gas out of the lines, and skipping it is one of the quieter reasons a new system underperforms and fails early. Condensate is routed and trapped, electrical and thermostat wiring connected, and the charge weighed in and verified against measured superheat and subcooling rather than guessed at the gauges.
Airflow is set, a full cycle is run, and the temperature split across the indoor coil is measured. Before we leave you get the filter size and location, the thermostat configuration, and what this unit sounds like running normally.
What drives the price
System type and capacity, the efficiency and staging tier, whether usable ductwork exists, the electrical supply and disconnect, the line set routing, the controls, and supporting work such as a condensate pump or a new pad. Expect from any quote, ours included, an itemized scope separating equipment, labour and supporting work, so two quotes can be compared. Financing is available through Vista.
Related cooling services
Arrange an assessment
Call (416) 283-5698 weekdays between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM, or send us your details. Licensed and insured, from our shop on Venture Drive in Scarborough since 1979. See the areas we serve.