Mini-Split Installation in Tacoma, WA

Mini-Splits for Tacoma's Housing Stock

Who bills you for power decides what you can claim. Tacoma is served by Tacoma Power. That means $2,000 for a variable-speed heat pump replacing zonal or electric forced air, $1,000 for a standard air-source or ductless system, and — the part most homeowners miss — a 0% interest loan of up to $20,000 over seven years. Income-qualified households can defer the loan entirely and owe nothing until the home sells. Tacoma Power pays only through a Participating Contractor, and only on equipment rated at least HSPF2 7.5 / SEER2 14.3, on a home that is not new construction and has not taken a Tacoma Power heat pump incentive before.

Tacoma does not share Seattle's weather, and the code says so. The Washington State Energy Code lists Tacoma at a 29°F winter design temperature (WAC 51-11C-80100, Table C-1). That is the number a Manual J load calculation for your home is run against, and it is the difference between equipment that carries the house on its own and equipment that leans on expensive backup heat every cold snap. Federal Way is 24°F — a real gap for towns this close together. Tacoma is the milder side of that line, and equipment sized for the colder neighbor is equipment you paid too much for.

What we expect to find in a Tacoma home. The local stock runs to Victorian mansions in Stadium District, Craftsman bungalows on the North Slope, American Foursquares, Tudor Revivals, and Queen Anne styles across nine historic districts. That usually means oil and gravity furnaces still running in North End and Stadium District homes, gas forced air across the mid-century South End, and electric wall heat in un-ducted bungalows. Gas service here comes from Puget Sound Energy. Whether installing a ductless mini-split is the right answer for your house is something we tell you after we look at it, not before.

The parts of the job that are specific to this address. In Tacoma, the mechanical permit is issued by the City of Tacoma Planning & Development Services Department, and we pull it, pay it and meet the inspector; exterior work may go before the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission, which reviews exterior changes — including condenser placement and lineset routing — on registered properties across the city's historic districts, so where the outdoor unit sits is a permitting decision here, not just an aesthetic one; homes near Commencement Bay, Ruston Way and Point Defiance get corrosion-rated coil coatings and a twice-yearly coil rinse instead of annual service — salt air is what kills condensers early on this shoreline; burn bans and wildfire-smoke advisories here are called by Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which is the season that makes filtration worth specifying properly.