Commercial heating · Toronto & GTA

Commercial heating for rooms
that have to stay open

Restaurants, retail, warehouses and patios each lose heat in a different way, so each needs a different answer. Toronto Air Systems specifies, installs and services commercial heating across the GTA — TSSA-licensed, scheduled around your trading hours.

Request a commercial heating consultation Call 647 953-4252

TSSA-licensed gas technicians

Work scheduled around your hours

Restaurants, retail & light industrial

One team from survey to commissioning

At a glance

Primary serviceCommercial heating

Typical sitesRestaurants & retail

Also coversWarehouses & patios

Service areaToronto & GTA

1,000+

Clients served

TSSA

Certified team

7 days

A week support

GTA-wide

Service coverage

20+ yrs

Climate experience

Where the heat goes

A commercial space is not a big house

A home holds its heat. A commercial space usually cannot: doors open every ninety seconds, ceilings run high, loading bays breathe cold air straight into the room, and a patio has no walls at all. Heating each of those the same way is why so many rooms end up simultaneously overheated at the ceiling and cold where people actually are.

The choice that matters is not really which brand — it is whether you should be heating the air or heating the people and surfaces directly. Forced-air equipment warms a volume of air and works well in an enclosed, well-sealed room. Radiant equipment warms objects in its path and keeps working in rooms that leak air, which is why it dominates warehouses, garages and patios.

We survey the space first and specify from what we find — ceiling height, door traffic, air movement, where people stand and how long they stay. Recommendations follow the room, not a catalogue.

What matters most for heating services in the GTA
Right sizing, licensed gas/refrigeration work, and commissioning beat the cheapest sticker price. We verify airflow, safety devices, condensate paths, and controls so your system does not fail the first extreme week of the season. Ask us about dual-fuel, zoning, and rebate-eligible models during your quote.

Ceiling height and how much of the room is actually occupied
Door and bay traffic — how often the room is opened to outside air
Existing gas supply, venting routes and electrical capacity
Air movement: extraction, make-up air, and drafts that defeat a heater
Occupancy pattern — all-day trading, split shifts, or seasonal only
Whether zoning lets you heat only the parts of the room in use
Clearances to combustibles, sprinklers and stock lines
Access for service without closing the room

By space type

Four rooms, four different answers

The same heater is rarely right for two of these. What changes is how much air the room loses and where the people are.

Restaurants

Kitchen extraction pulls a great deal of air out of the building, and that air has to come back in from somewhere. Heating a dining room without addressing make-up air means fighting the extraction fan all winter. Usually a combination: tempered make-up air for the kitchen side, and comfort heat aimed at the seating.

Commercial & retail spaces

Street doors opening constantly, and a customer who is only in the room for a few minutes at a time. Entrance zones benefit from directed heat where people queue and pay, rather than trying to lift the temperature of the whole volume including the stockroom.

Outdoor dining & patios

No walls, so there is no air to keep warm — only people and surfaces to warm directly. This is radiant territory: overhead or wall-mounted infrared aimed at seating, zoned so empty sections are not being heated at your expense.

Warehouses & light industrial

High ceilings send warm air where nobody works. Radiant tube heaters run along the roof line and warm the floor and the people on it, which is why they suit bays, workshops and garages far better than blowing hot air upward.

Radiant or forced air?

How to choose between radiant and forced-air heat

This is the decision that determines whether a commercial space is comfortable. Both are the right answer somewhere.

	Radiant (infrared / tube)	Forced air (unit heater / RTU)
What it heats	People, floors and objects directly	The air in the room
Rooms that leak air	Keeps working — the heat is not in the air	Struggles; heat leaves with the air
High ceilings	Suits them; heat is aimed downward	Warm air collects above head height
Open or semi-open space	The practical option outdoors and on patios	Not viable without enclosure
Whole-room even warmth	Warms what is in its path	Better where the room is sealed
Zoning empty areas off	Straightforward — heat only occupied bays	Possible, but the whole volume is the unit
Ventilation & fresh air	Handled separately	Can be combined with make-up air

What we do

Commercial heating services

Survey, specification, licensed installation and the servicing that keeps it running through a GTA winter.

Site survey & heat specification

We measure the space, the air loss and the occupancy pattern, then specify equipment and a zone layout against what we found — not a per-square-foot rule of thumb.

Request a consultation →

Radiant tube heater systems

Overhead radiant for warehouses, bays, workshops and garages, laid out to warm the floor and the people on it.

Tube heaters →

Patio & outdoor heating

Infrared heating for restaurant terraces, semi-enclosed dining and hospitality spaces, zoned by seating area.

Patio heaters →

Rooftop units & make-up air

Packaged rooftop heating and cooling, plus the tempered make-up air that a commercial kitchen needs to stop fighting its own extraction.

Rooftop HVAC →

Commercial boilers & hydronic

Boiler replacement and hydronic heating for mixed-use buildings, including in-floor systems.

Commercial boilers →

Planned maintenance contracts

Scheduled servicing around your operating hours, with documented visits and priority response for property managers and multi-site operators.

Request a consultation →

Survey first

The room decides the equipment, not the catalogue

Ceiling height, door traffic and extraction are what make a warehouse and a dining room need completely different answers. We measure before we specify.

Request a site survey

Design first

Then equipment

The cheapest heat in a commercial space is the heat you never had to produce. Zoning empty areas off, aiming heat where people actually are, and closing the gap between extraction and make-up air will do more for a winter gas bill than any single specification sheet. Efficiency is mostly design and operation — not one number on a box.

Why Toronto Air Systems

Why GTA operators use us for commercial heat

Local crews, licensed workmanship, and recommendations built around how Toronto buildings actually heat and cool — not generic scripts.

We schedule around trading hours

Surveys, installs and servicing planned for closed periods and quiet shifts. Buildings that cannot simply close for the day are the normal case here, not the exception.

TSSA-licensed on every gas connection

Every gas connection is made by a TSSA-licensed technician. No uncertified subcontractors on commercial gas work.

We specify from a survey, not a catalogue

Ceiling height, door traffic, extraction and occupancy decide the equipment. That is why the recommendation for a warehouse and a dining room are rarely the same product.

One team, survey to commissioning

The people who surveyed the space are the people who commission it, so nothing is lost between the quote and the switch-on.

How it works

How a commercial project runs

From first call to commissioned equipment, you always know the next step, the timeline, and what is included.

Site survey

We walk the space, measure it, and ask how it is actually used through the day and the week.

Specification & zone layout

Equipment, positions and zones proposed against the survey, with the reasoning written down.

Written quote

Scope, equipment, labour, timeline and warranty in writing before anything is ordered.

Installation

Licensed install scheduled around your operating hours, with gas, venting and electrical to code.

Commissioning & handover

Controls set up, zones demonstrated to your team, and a maintenance schedule agreed.

Brands we work with

Commercial heating brands we specify

We are not tied to one manufacturer, so the specification follows the space rather than a quota.

Where we work

Commercial heating across the GTA

From our North York shop we cover the Greater Toronto Area for commercial heating work.

Toronto

All neighbourhoods & districts

North York

Our home base

Mississauga

West GTA residential & commercial

Brampton

Full HVAC coverage

Vaughan

Including Woodbridge & Concord

Markham

East GTA homes & businesses

Richmond Hill

Residential & mixed-use

Scarborough

East Toronto

Etobicoke

West Toronto

Oakville

Halton Region

Pickering & Ajax

Durham Region

Whitby & Oshawa

East GTA

FAQ

Commercial heating FAQ — Toronto & GTA

Should a restaurant use radiant or forced-air heating?

Usually both, doing different jobs. Kitchen extraction removes a large volume of air that has to be replaced, so tempered make-up air handles the kitchen side. The dining room is a comfort question — and where there is a patio or a door opening onto the street, radiant heat aimed at the seating works better than trying to warm air that keeps leaving.

Can you heat an outdoor patio properly in a Toronto winter?

You can extend the usable season considerably, and shoulder seasons especially. What radiant heat cannot do is hold an open patio at indoor temperature in deep winter — nothing can, because there is no envelope. The honest goal is comfortable seating for guests in coats, in the parts of the patio you choose to heat.

How much area will one heater cover?

There is no single figure, and any supplier quoting one without seeing the space is guessing. Coverage depends on the unit's output, the height and angle it is installed at, the type of heater, how much air movement there is, and the shape of the space. We design zones from those five factors rather than selling a heater count.

Do you work outside business hours?

Yes. Most commercial work here is scheduled around trading — early mornings, closed days, or overnight where the site allows. That is agreed at quoting stage rather than negotiated on the day.

Can you maintain equipment you did not install?

Yes, provided it is safe and serviceable. We will tell you plainly if something has been installed in a way that cannot be signed off, and what it would take to correct.

Do you offer maintenance contracts for multiple sites?

Yes — scheduled servicing with documented visits and priority response, which is the usual arrangement for property managers and multi-site operators.

How much does heating services cost in Toronto?

Cost depends on equipment capacity, brand, duct or piping complexity, electrical/gas upgrades, and whether you repair or replace. We provide written quotes after a site assessment so you can compare options fairly. Call 647 953-4252 for a visit.

Do you serve my area in the GTA?

Yes. We are based in North York at 132 Cartwright Ave and regularly serve Toronto, Mississauga, Vaughan, Markham, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Brampton, and nearby communities.

Are your technicians licensed?

Yes. Gas and refrigeration work is performed by TSSA-licensed technicians. We follow Ontario code practice for venting, refrigerant handling, electrical disconnects, and condensate management.

How long does installation usually take?

Many like-for-like replacements finish in one day; complex duct, line-set, or commercial projects may take longer. Your written quote includes the expected schedule and any crane or access notes.

Talk to us about your space

Tell us what the room does and how it is used, and we will tell you what it needs. Survey first, written quote second.