Answers
Is a heat pump worth it in Bellingham?
The payback on a Bellingham heat pump turns entirely on your current heat source.
The short answer
It depends on what you heat with today. Replacing electric baseboard or wall heaters is the strongest case in Bellingham, because the operating savings are large and PSE pays $1,500, or $2,400 with Efficiency Boost. Replacing a working gas furnace is a much thinner case here, and there is no PSE gas-to-heat-pump rebate in Cascade territory.
If you heat with electric resistance, this is the easy one
Baseboard, wall heaters, an electric furnace or radiant ceiling cable all convert one unit of electricity into one unit of heat. A variable-speed heat pump moves several, and the Seattle Times reports such systems can run as much as five times more efficiently than baseboard or electric forced air. On top of that, electric resistance is precisely the existing-heat condition PSE’s conversion rebate is written for.
If you heat with gas in Bellingham, do the math before you commit
Bellingham’s gas utility is Cascade Natural Gas, not PSE. PSE’s hybrid heat pump and moderate-income fuel-switching rebates both require PSE natural gas service, so a gas-heated Bellingham home currently has no PSE gas-to-heat-pump rebate at all. Adding a heat pump to a gas house still buys you air conditioning and a cheaper shoulder season, but call it what it is rather than a heating-bill play.
Oil, propane and wood change the picture again
Up the Mount Baker corridor there is no gas main, so the incumbent is propane, oil or a woodstove, and delivered fuel is the expensive kind. A ductless system there also solves a real comfort problem, because a single woodstove heats one room and leaves the bedrooms cold. The Northwest Clean Air Agency woodstove change-out program has installed ductless heat pumps in the Columbia Valley for exactly this reason.
What the install actually costs
Barron Heating publishes a Bellingham ductless range of $3,000 to $10,000 depending on zone count, and $4,000 to $8,000 for a ducted air-source system. The aggregator Homeyou puts installed heat pumps here at $2,793 to $10,058, with a typical band of $5,301 to $6,973. Our estimate visit carries an $89.99 trip charge that we refund as company credit if you accept the bid, so the quote costs you nothing if we do the work.
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