Spokane · heat pump & AC installation
Heat pump and AC installation in Spokane, panel first
In Spokane’s older neighborhoods the electrical panel, not the condenser pad, decides how a heat pump project goes. We read the panel and measure the house on one visit, then price equipment, circuit and permit on one written quote.
- Panel read
- Service size, open slots and breaker load checked before anything is priced.
- Itemized electrical
- Circuit, disconnect and panel work listed as line items with the permit.
- Book online
- Up to $500 off a full system, first-year tune-up included.
Ask where in Spokane people want heat pumps and the answer is often the oldest streets: Browne’s Addition, Manito, the South Hill, the blocks off Northwest Boulevard. Those 1910s and 1920s houses tend to run on 100-amp services — many of them old fuse boxes later swapped for breakers — with every slot already spoken for. A heat pump wants a dedicated 240-volt circuit, a disconnect within reach of the outdoor unit and, fairly often, a bigger service. That is why the panel gets looked at before anything is priced.
One visit covers a Manual J on the house and a load check on the panel, and one written quote prices both, with the electrical hookup and the permit as their own line items. The install is permitted and inspected. There is no charge for the install site visit or the quote, and with the shop on W Columbia Ave between Kendall Yards and the Monroe corridor, no Spokane address is a long drive.
Spokane situations and what we usually put in
| Situation | What we usually recommend | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s central AC still on R-22 | Matched R-454B condenser, coil and line set, sized by Manual J | R-22 is scarce and costly to top off, and the next July failure is close |
| Electric furnace or baseboards | Cold-climate heat pump, with the furnace or strips left as backup | Resistance heat produces the biggest winter Avista bills on most blocks |
| Gas furnace and a window unit in every bedroom | Central AC on the furnace and ducts you already have, coil matched to condenser | One quiet system reaches every room the ducts reach |
| Runs five minutes, shuts off, starts again | Right-sized equipment from a load calculation | Oversized units short-cycle, leave rooms uneven and wear compressors out early |
| 100-amp panel with nothing open | Service or panel upgrade listed on the same written quote, with the permit | Known before the quote, so the total does not change mid-job |
| South Hill craftsman with a good gas furnace | Heat pump on the furnace as dual-fuel | The heat pump covers mild and cool days; gas takes the deep-cold nights |
From Browne’s Addition to Latah Valley: equipment that fits the house
Spokane’s design range runs from a few degrees below zero in January to past 100°F in July, so we choose a heat pump by what it delivers at low outdoor temperatures rather than the tonnage printed on its label. Equipment picked by nameplate alone tends to fail at exactly one of those two extremes. On Indian Trail and in Latah Valley, where the houses are newer and the panels have room, a cold-climate heat pump backed by electric strips usually heats the whole place without help. In a South Hill craftsman whose gas furnace still has years in it, the furnace stays, takes over below the balance point, and leaves everything above that to the heat pump.
A typical city job: a 1998 R-22 condenser comes off its pad and a matched R-454B system goes onto the same furnace, with a new line set and a new circuit. Our technicians carry the EPA 608 Universal card, so the old charge goes into a recovery cylinder on site. Joints are brazed with nitrogen flowing through the lines, the outdoor unit sits level on a pad clear of drifting snow and roof runoff, and the system is leak-tested, evacuated and charged by weight. The circuit and disconnect go on the permit with the rest of the job, and the install is inspected. Superheat and subcooling readings are written on the paperwork you keep, and a heat pump is cycled through heating, cooling and defrost before we leave.
The visit itself takes about an hour: rooms, windows and which way they face, ductwork and static pressure, the furnace and coil, and the panel. A quote follows within a day or two with two or three efficiency tiers side by side — Carrier, Bryant, Goodman, Daikin, Mitsubishi or Fujitsu, depending on the house — and the electrical on its own lines. If the ducts are too small for the new airflow, the quote says so and prices the correction separately. Most changeouts are done in a day; a panel upgrade or duct work stretches it to two, and in heating season we never leave a house without heat overnight. Nothing is ordered until you sign, and the equipment deposit at that point is in writing.
Installed starting prices in Spokane
Some numbers for orientation before anyone visits. Across the Spokane area, adding central AC to a working furnace starts at $4,150, a heat pump with a matched air handler at $5,750, and a cold-climate variable-speed (inverter) heat pump at $4,900, and those figures already carry the equipment along with the installation. Treat them as citywide starting points, not a quote: panel work, the length of the copper run and duct changes all add to them, and the figure that counts is the one we write down after measuring your house, on a visit that costs nothing. That quote prints the cash price and the financed price next to each other, lists any utility rebate we find for your address, and — when the visit came through our online booking form — takes up to $500 off a full system, with the first-year tune-up included.
| System, installed | Price |
|---|---|
| Central air conditioner | from $4,150 |
| Heat pump with air handler | from $5,750 |
| Inverter (variable-speed) heat pump | from $4,900 |
| Heat pump outdoor unit only | from $4,200 |
| Ductless mini-split, single zone | from $3,350 |
| Each added mini-split zone | from $1,900 |
| Multi-zone mini-split systems | On request |
Starting prices with equipment and installation included, before utility rebates and before our up to $500 off a full system. Multi-zone systems are quoted on request. The site visit and written quote cost nothing.
Questions we hear
Will a heat pump keep up in a Spokane winter?
Yes, provided it is a cold-climate unit. The models we quote keep producing rated heat at −13°F and below, and the furnace or strips already in the house pick up the rare night colder than that. Sizing matters more here than almost anywhere: too small and the backup runs all January, too big and the house short-cycles all summer. That is why the quote comes from a Manual J, not from the old nameplate.
Our house has a 100-amp panel with no open slots. Is a heat pump still possible?
Yes — that describes a good share of the South Hill and Browne’s Addition. We look over the service during the site visit, and any panel or service work shows up as separate lines on the same quote, along with the permit. The install is permitted and inspected.
Will we be without heat during a winter install?
Not overnight. A straight changeout on an existing furnace and duct system is a one-day job, and two-day jobs — a new line set, a panel upgrade, duct modifications — are planned so the furnace is running again before evening. The schedule is written into the quote, so you know ahead of time which day work starts and when heat is back.
Do you help with utility rebates in Spokane?
Yes. Programs shift every year, so the check happens when your quote is written, not from a list printed last spring. Where qualifying equipment suits the house we point it out, and the forms get filled in with you before the crew arrives, which keeps the claim from being forgotten once the new system is running. Amounts are the utility’s to set, so we never promise a figure.
Is there a charge for the site visit or the quote?
None. Measuring the house, running the load calculation, checking the panel and writing the quote are all at no charge, and the quote holds for 30 days. Our pricing has no zones inside the city — the South Hill and Indian Trail pay the same. Book that visit through the website, approve a full system, and up to $500 comes off the total with the first-year tune-up added.
Call, text or book
The quickest start is a text to (509) 370-5361 with a photo of the old unit’s nameplate; a call or the online booking form works too, and booking online is what unlocks up to $500 off a full system. Should the visit show that a repair makes more sense, the $99 diagnostic is counted inside the repair price you sign off on.
Book a visit
Tell us what is going on
We call or text back to confirm a time window, usually the same day.
- $99 diagnostic Counted inside the written repair price you approve. Say no to the repair and it is the whole bill.
- Up to $50 off An HVAC repair booked online. Appliance repairs booked online: up to $22 off. Never taken off the diagnostic.
- Up to $500 off A full-system install booked through our site-visit form, first-year tune-up included. The site visit costs nothing.
Prefer to text? Send a photo of the model tag to (509) 370-5361.