Furnace to Heat Pump Conversion in Marietta-Alderwood, WA

Furnace to Heat Pump Conversion questions from Marietta-Alderwood

Should I keep my furnace as backup heat?

Keep it if it is a sound gas furnace with years left, and remove it if it is an old electric furnace. A healthy gas furnace makes an excellent backup below the switchover point and costs almost nothing to retain, since the heat pump coil simply sits above it. An electric furnace, by contrast, is the thing you are trying to stop paying for, and removing it in favour of modest strip backup is what qualifies the project for PSE’s conversion rebate.

Will my electric bill go up if I switch from gas to a heat pump?

Your electric bill will go up and your gas bill will go down, and whether the total improves depends on rates and how much of the season the heat pump carries. Switching from electric resistance is the clear win: variable-speed heat pumps have been reported to run as much as five times more efficiently than baseboard or electric forced air, and one regional installer reports heating bills dropping 40 to 50 percent for households leaving electric resistance. Those are attributed figures, not our own measurements, and we will not pretend a gas-to-electric switch is guaranteed to be cheaper on your rates.

Can I get the PSE hybrid heat pump rebate in Bellingham?

No, and this is the detail nearly every local bid gets wrong. PSE’s hybrid heat pump rebate and its moderate-income fuel-switching rebate both require PSE natural gas service, and Bellingham’s gas utility is Cascade Natural Gas. So a gas-heated home inside Bellingham currently has no PSE gas-to-heat-pump rebate at all. If your current heat is electric resistance, though, the $1,500 conversion rebate is fully available, which is why the fuel you are leaving matters more than the equipment you are buying.

Does a heat pump alone work here, without the furnace running?

Yes, when it is sized against Bellingham’s 19°F design temperature and given a small amount of backup for the coldest hours. Winter lows here rarely drop below 10°F, and cold-climate equipment holds useful capacity through that. The design question is where the balance point sits, and we tell you that number so you know how many hours a year backup heat contributes.

Can I keep my existing ducts and registers?

Usually yes, with checks and often some repair. Because heat pump supply air is cooler than furnace air, undersized returns and leaky crawlspace flex show up as rooms that feel drafty or never quite arrive. We measure static pressure and return capacity before quoting, and if the duct system is genuinely inadequate we will tell you whether repairing it or going ductless in the problem rooms is the better spend.

Will I need an electrical panel upgrade?

Sometimes, and it is the biggest variable in the budget when you are coming off gas. A heat pump needs a dedicated circuit and a disconnect, and adding that load to a full 100-amp panel may require a service load calculation and panel work. A licensed electrical contractor does that assessment and all of the electrical work; we do not hold an electrical licence and will never quote you electrical labour as if we did.

What happens to my gas water heater if I remove the gas furnace?

It can stay on gas, and often should for now, but the shared venting has to be looked at. A furnace and a water heater sharing a chimney or B-vent are sized as a pair, and pulling the furnace out can leave the water heater orphaned on a flue that no longer drafts properly. That work is coordinated with the appropriate licensed trade and the utility. If you would rather electrify the water side too, a heat pump water heater has its own PSE rebate of $1,000, or $1,100 with Efficiency Boost.

Are there state rebates for converting away from a furnace?

Washington’s HEAR program is administered locally through Sustainable Connections, Opportunity Council and Lummi Nation, and each administrator sets its own amounts, which are not published as a single statewide figure. So the honest answer is that it may help and we cannot quote you a number in advance. The Community Energy Challenge also offers up to $2,000 toward ductless for moderate-income households in homes built before 1990, plus weatherization support that has averaged around 45 percent of project cost.

How long does a furnace to heat pump conversion take?

One to two days if we are adding a heat pump coil above a furnace you are keeping. Two to three days for a full electric furnace removal, air handler replacement and any duct correction, and gas decommissioning pushes it further. The electrical work and the inspection are scheduled separately, so allow a couple of weeks end to end.

Do I need a permit for the conversion?

Yes, and it may be more than one. We pull the mechanical permit and meet the inspector, through City of Bellingham eTRAKiT inside city limits or Whatcom County Planning and Development Services outside them. Electrical is permitted by the licensed electrical contractor, and removing a gas appliance brings the gas and venting work under the relevant licensed trade rather than ours.

What does the conversion cost?

Published Bellingham ranges for a ducted heat pump on existing ductwork run $4,000 to $8,000 installed, and conversions land at both ends of that rather than in the middle. A dual-fuel coil on a good gas furnace is the cheap end; removing an electric furnace, repairing duct, and adding a circuit to a full panel is the expensive end. We quote mechanical, duct and electrical as separate lines so you can see which decision is costing what.

Is there still a federal tax credit for switching to a heat pump?

No. Federal §25C and §25D ended for property placed in service after December 31, 2025 under P.L. 119-21, confirmed by IRS FS-2025-05, and the placed-in-service date is what controls. There is also no Washington sales-tax exemption on heat pumps, despite how widely that is repeated. For a 2026 conversion the real money is the PSE electric-resistance rebate, Efficiency Boost if you income-qualify, and the local HEAR and Community Energy Challenge programs.