Guides · 2026-08-14
Do you keep your electric baseboards after installing a heat pump?
It is a reasonable question: if the heat pump is so much more efficient, why keep the old heaters on the wall?
In a Quebec climate the honest answer is that the baseboards are not legacy equipment. They are part of how the system works.
Two jobs the baseboards keep doing
First, they heat the rooms the heat pump does not reach — closed bedrooms, basements, bathrooms. A wall-mounted head cannot push conditioned air through a closed door.
Second, they are the backup below the balance point, on the coldest nights when the heat pump alone cannot meet the load.
What that means for your bill
The baseboards keep consuming, at a COP of 1.0, for whatever share of the heating load they carry. That share is the single biggest driver of how much you actually save, and it is the number most estimates omit.
If the heat pump covers 60% of the load, you save around 35% of heating electricity. If your layout means it only covers 45%, the saving falls to about 26%. Same equipment, same COP, different house.
Can you reduce what the baseboards do?
Sometimes, and it is usually about air movement and control rather than equipment. Leaving interior doors open where practical, not fighting the heat pump with a baseboard thermostat set high in the same space, and setting baseboard thermostats a degree or two below the heat pump's setpoint so they act as true backup rather than running in parallel.
Adding a second head to serve a bedroom zone raises coverage directly, at a capital cost you can weigh against the energy figure.
Removing them is rarely the right call
Stripping out baseboards leaves no backup for a −30 °C night and no heat in rooms the head cannot serve. It also tends to be the point at which a comfortable home becomes an uncomfortable one for the sake of a modest efficiency gain.
Keep them, set them sensibly, and treat the heat pump as the primary rather than the only source.
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FAQ
Will the baseboards and heat pump fight each other?
They can, if thermostats are set to the same temperature in the same space — both will try to satisfy it and the resistive heat often wins. Setting baseboard thermostats slightly lower makes them behave as backup.
How do I know what coverage I have?
There is no meter for it. Judge it from layout: how much of your heated floor area is in spaces the head actually conditions. Our calculator lets you set it directly so you can see how sensitive the answer is.
Does this apply to a centrally ducted heat pump?
Less so. A ducted system serving the whole home has much higher coverage, which is why its savings profile differs from a wall-mounted head. The trade-off is installation cost and feasibility in an existing Quebec home.