Service
Cooling for heat waves
Older Seattle houses were built to hold heat, not shed it. A heat pump cools the rooms you choose, so you can sleep upstairs in August without cooling the whole house.
Signs this is your house
Bedrooms that stay warm after sundown
A west-facing living room with big windows
Window units that rattle, block the view and leak
A heat wave that you remember with dread
Smoke in August, when you cannot open the windows
What happens at the visit
- 01
Find the hot rooms
We ask which rooms you cannot sleep in, and look at the windows, the sun and the attic above.
- 02
Size the heads
We size each head from the room, not from the whole house. Rooms with more glass take more.
- 03
Plan the outdoor unit
We find a spot that meets the setbacks and keeps the sound away from neighbors' windows and your own.
- 04
Write the proposal
The same scope as for heating: each room, the equipment, the electrical, the permit and the total.
What decides the cost
No numbers here, on purpose. The proposal states the total, with each of these lines written out.
Room size and glass
A room with big west windows needs a larger head than a shaded bedroom of the same size.
The attic above
An uninsulated attic over the room raises the load and sometimes the cost.
The outdoor unit
Its location, its size and whether it is shared with other rooms.
Line-set runs
The distance from the head to the outdoor unit.
Electrical
A new circuit, or an existing one if the panel has room.
Permit and inspection
Written into the proposal with the rest of the scope.
Questions on this job
Does a heat pump filter smoke?
The indoor unit has a washable filter that catches dust. It does not clean the air of smoke. In smoke season keep windows closed and ask us about the filter options for your system.
Can I cool just one room?
Yes. One head with its own outdoor unit cools one room. Two or three rooms can share a multi-zone unit.
Will it heat in winter too?
Yes. The same unit heats. Most owners use it for both.
Related work
Which rooms get hot?
Tell us the rooms and the side of the house they face. We will bring a thermometer and a tape measure.