HVAC · BOILERS & HYDRONICS
Mid-century Toronto homes — Bayview, Hoggs Hollow, the Annex, Forest Hill — were built around cast-iron boilers and hydronic heat. Many of those originals are now 40, 50, even 60 years old and nearing the end of the line. We replace them with modern condensing combi boilers (95%+ AFUE) that heat both the radiators and the domestic hot water from one wall-mounted unit, design hydronic baseboard and radiant floor systems from scratch, and install snowmelt for driveways and walkways. TSSA-licensed gas fitters on every job.
From a same-day replacement of a leaking 50-year-old cast-iron boiler to a fully designed radiant slab in a new build, Caspian handles every part of the hydronic stack — boiler, near-boiler piping, controls, manifolds, and emitters.
Wall-mounted high-efficiency units that handle both space heat and domestic hot water in one box — Navien, Viessmann, and Weil-McLain. 95%+ AFUE, modulating burners, stainless heat exchangers.
Heritage homes with original cast-iron radiators deserve a boiler that can drive them properly. We size and install replacements that work with what's already in your walls.
PEX tubing in a poured slab for new builds, or stapled under hardwood and tile for retrofits. Quiet, even, foot-warm heat with no ducts and no air movement.
Designed, sized, and balanced room-by-room. We work with existing cast-iron radiators where they still perform — or replace with modern panel rads or low-profile baseboard.
PEX loops under driveways, walkways, and front steps — driven by your boiler with a dedicated heat exchanger and glycol loop. No more shovelling, no more salt damage.
When a boiler dies in January, we don't make you wait two weeks. We stock common combi sizes and can swap an old boiler out same-day in most cases.
For older Toronto homes, forced-air retrofits often make things worse — not better. Here's why hydronic systems usually win.
Most mid-century Toronto homes — Bayview, Hoggs Hollow, the Annex, Forest Hill — were built with hydronic heat, boilers driving cast-iron radiators, for a reason. The houses are dense, well-built, and finished with plaster walls and hardwood floors that have no room for ducts without serious surgery.
Hydronic heat is silent, even, and doesn't dry out the air the way forced air does. There's no blower fan, no air movement, no dust kicking up off the registers every time the system cycles. The radiators warm the room with gentle radiant and convective heat instead of pushing hot air at you.
Cast-iron radiators are still serviceable indefinitely — they were built to outlast the house. They just need a new boiler driving them. Modern condensing units talk to old rads beautifully once the near-boiler piping is done properly and the system water is treated.
And modern combi boilers replace two appliances with one: they handle space heat AND domestic hot water from a single wall-mounted unit, freeing up the floor space your old tank water heater and free-standing boiler used to take.
Boilers usually give you fair warning before they fail. Catch the signals and you can plan a clean replacement — miss them and you'll be replacing a frozen and burst hydronic system on top of the boiler itself.
Cast-iron boilers can run 30+ years, but past 20 they're often well below their nameplate efficiency. Steel fire-tube boilers are typically done at 15. Once you're past those marks, a planned upgrade beats a winter failure.
Rust streaks at the base of the boiler or weeping at supply/return connections mean the jacket or sections are failing. Once a boiler starts leaking, repair is rarely worth it — the next leak is around the corner.
If the boiler fires but rads stay cool, you've got circulator failure, air-bound loops, sludge buildup, or a heat exchanger that's no longer transferring heat. Sometimes a flush fixes it; often it's terminal.
Year-over-year creep on the gas bill — same house, same winter, same thermostat — means the boiler is burning more fuel for the same output. Efficiency degrades as the heat exchanger fouls and combustion drifts out of tune.
GET A QUOTE
Tell us what you're running — make, age, radiator type — and we'll come out, look at the near-boiler piping, and put together a clear replacement plan. Same-day emergency service when the heat is out; scheduled installs when you're planning ahead.