St. Theresa Point

In 1999, the St. Theresa R.C. Church and Rectory was in major need of a heating system upgrade. The existing oil furnace had cracked heat exchangers and the oil tanks were at the end of their life cycle. That same year, the area was connected to the Manitoba Hydro grid power – previously they were on diesel generated power. Three options were looked at: 1) upgrade oil furnaces and tanks, 2) electric furnaces, 3) geothermal. Paradise Geothermal was contracted to look at the feasibility of the three options. The cost of all three options were determined and evaluated with geothermal being chosen.

All equipment and materials had to be flown in as the Island Lakes Indian Reserve is only accessible by air and winter roads. Our crew flew up in early August 1999 on a Monday, completed the installation of the heat pumps, ground loop, complete ductwork change in the church and total electrical upgrade in the church and rectory, commissioned the equipment and flew back home on the following Monday with all the work completed.

The WaterFurnace heat pumps were all working well until the church burned down in April 2021.

Plans were made to rebuild the church and to install heat pumps into the new building. While installing the new units at the church, the unit in the rectory would be upgraded (although it was still functional).

The new WaterFurnace heat pumps were commissioned in August of 2024 and in February 2025 the units were checked over and connected online to be able to see how they are operating remotely. We expect many years of trouble free service of these units.