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Bellingham Heating & Cooling — Bellingham's Energy Savings Team
Outdoor heat pump condenser set on a raised pad with service clearance on the valve side

Whatcom County, Washington

Heat Pump Installation in Birch Bay, WA

One system that heats through a Bellingham winter and cools through a smoke-season August, sized to your house rather than to a chart.

Call (360) 592-3824 Get a free estimate or text us
  • 17°F heating design temperature (nearest code station: Blaine)
  • Electricity: Puget Sound Energy
  • Gas: None — propane, oil or all-electric
  • Permits: Whatcom County Planning & Development Services
  • WA L&I #BELLIHC808NM Active registration — verify it with the state
  • $30,000 bonded Surety bond on file with L&I
  • $1,000,000 insured General liability coverage
  • Local since 2020 Owner-operated in Whatcom County
  • We pull the permit City of Bellingham or Whatcom County, and we meet the inspector

What heat pump installation means in Birch Bay

Birch Bay mixes small 1950s–70s beach cabins that were winterised over the decades, 1990s–2000s retirement and second homes in Birch Bay Village, and newer builds along Harborview and Jackson roads. A lot of the older cottages ran on electric wall heaters plus a wood stove because nobody expected to live in them through February, so their insulation and panel capacity lag their square footage. Ductless is nearly always the right answer, and often a multi-zone one to cover an addition that was tacked on later.

We size Birch Bay to Blaine’s 17°F rather than Bellingham’s 19°F, because the north county takes the Fraser outflow first. The larger equipment-life issue is salt: an outdoor unit a few hundred feet off the beach lives in airborne chloride year-round, and one industry source puts the cost of that at two to four years of service life without corrosion protection. Coated coils, a protected cabinet, or simply siting the unit on the lee side of the house are all worth settling before the order goes in.

The install wrinkle here

Birch Bay is unincorporated, so the mechanical permit goes to Whatcom County Planning & Development Services and not to the City of Blaine, even for an address that looks like Blaine on an envelope. There is no natural gas main out here, so the existing heat is electric, propane or oil and the fuel-switching case is easy to run honestly. Elevated and pier-supported homes near the beach need a mounting plan that keeps the outdoor unit above storm splash and off a deck that will transmit compressor vibration into the living room.

Your utilities decide your rebates

Birch Bay takes its electricity from Puget Sound Energy, which is what makes the PSE heat pump rebates reachable at all — PSE serves every address in Whatcom County. There is no natural gas main to most of Birch Bay, so homes here run on propane, oil, wood, or electric resistance heat. That is actually good news for rebates: PSE's $1,500 conversion rebate pays specifically to replace electric-resistance heat, and it rises to $2,400 for income-qualified households.

Who issues the permit

Mechanical work in Birch Bay is permitted through Whatcom County Planning & Development Services via its Whatcom County Permit Center application, online or in person. We pull the permit and meet the inspector. Worth knowing: a great many mailing addresses that read "Bellingham" are physically in unincorporated Whatcom County, which changes the permitting authority. We check the parcel before we file.

Getting there

We work out of Larrabee Avenue in south Bellingham, roughly 28 minutes from Birch Bay — near Birch Bay State Park and Birch Bay Village. We also cover Birch Bay Village, Birch Point, Harborview Road, Jackson Road.

Heat Pump Installation pricing for Birch Bay

installed ducted air-source heat pump where existing ductwork is serviceable. The $4,000–$8,000 range is the published Bellingham figure; the typical number is the low end of the $5,301–$6,973 typical band a Bellingham cost aggregator reports for completed heat pump jobs. Duct repair and electrical work are extra.

Simple job
$4,000
Most homes
$5,301
Complex job
$8,000

Installed price before rebates, benchmarked across Whatcom County. Homes on electric resistance heat here qualify for the largest rebate in the county. The federal §25C credit contributes $0 in 2026.

Range benchmarked 2026-09-04 against published local pricing. Your quote is fixed before work starts — no hourly surprises.

Rebates a Birch Bay household can use

  • $1,500

    Available now

    $2,400 with PSE Efficiency Boost for income-qualified households.

    Paperwork:
    We file it
    Deadline:
    No published end date — tariffed and subject to change
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

  • Raises other PSE rebates

    Income-qualified

    Heat pump $1,500 → $2,400 · heat pump water heater $1,000 → $1,100 · smart thermostat $75 → $175.

    Paperwork:
    We file it
    Deadline:
    Ongoing
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

  • Midstream HVAC Equipment Discount

    Puget Sound Energy (with ICF)

    $300–$600

    Available now

    Tier 1 $300 (SEER2 ≥15.2 / HSPF2 ≥8.1, retrofit only) · Tier 2 $400 (SEER2 ≥15.2 / HSPF2 ≥8.5) · Tier 3 $600 (SEER2 ≥16 / HSPF2 ≥9.5).

    Bellingham note: Whether this discount can be combined with the $1,500 conversion rebate is unconfirmed: PSE’s conversion page says its rebate "cannot be combined with any other rebates except where noted", while PSE’s heating hub tells customers to ask their contractor. We quote it separately and confirm with a PSE Energy Advisor before counting it toward your total.

    Paperwork:
    Comes off the equipment price
    Deadline:
    No published end date
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

  • Daikin Instant Rebates — ductless

    Daikin (administered by EGIA)

    $450–$750

    Available now

    SkyAir (RZA outdoor with FTA indoor) $750 · MXM and Aurora MXT/MXTH $500 · Aurora RXT/RXP $450 · Atmosphera $450.

    Paperwork:
    We file it
    Deadline:
    Purchase by September 30, 2026; install by October 31, 2026
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

  • Community Energy Challenge — moderate income

    Sustainable Connections + Opportunity Council

    Up to $2,000

    Income-qualified

    For a ductless heat pump upgrade. Weatherization incentives average roughly 45% of project cost. Stated by CEC to be in addition to utility rebates.

    Paperwork:
    The program files it
    Deadline:
    Ongoing
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

  • $0 — terminated

    Ended

    Historically 30% of cost, up to $2,000/year for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters. Gone. The One Big Beautiful Bill (P.L. 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025) accelerated its termination.

    Paperwork:
    You file it
    Deadline:
    Terminated — property placed in service after December 31, 2025 does not qualify
    Verified:
    2026-09-04 · source

How a Birch Bay job runs

  1. Inspect the ducts before we talk about equipment

    A heat pump moves more air at a lower temperature than a furnace does, so undersized or leaky ducts that got away with it for thirty years will not get away with it now. We measure trunk and branch sizing, look for crushed flex in the crawlspace, check return capacity, and tell you honestly if the duct system needs work or if ductless is the better buy.

    Your part: Show us the crawlspace or attic access and mention any room that has always been the cold one.

  2. Room-by-room load calculation at 19°F

    We calculate the heating load against Bellingham’s 19°F design temperature from WAC 51-11C-80100 and the cooling load against 78°F, then pick equipment from the manufacturer’s low-temperature capacity table rather than the nameplate tons. Bellingham is colder than Seattle’s 24°F design temperature, so sizing copied from a Seattle rule of thumb comes out short here. We also identify the balance point, so you know at what outdoor temperature backup heat starts contributing.

    Your part: Tell us about insulation upgrades, new windows, or an unheated bonus room. Each one moves the load and can move you down a size.

  3. Electrical scope, quoted by a licensed electrical contractor

    A ducted heat pump needs a dedicated outdoor circuit, a disconnect, and an air handler circuit, and if you are keeping electric backup heat strips the service load calculation has to support them. Panels in 1960s and 1970s homes are often 100 amp and frequently full. We do not hold an electrical contractor licence, so a licensed electrical contractor performs and permits all electrical work on the project, and you see that cost as its own line rather than buried in a total.

    Your part: Decide with us whether to keep electric strip backup, which affects both the panel calculation and the rebate lockout settings.

  4. Mechanical permit and inspection

    We file the mechanical permit and meet the inspector on site. City of Bellingham addresses go through Building Services on the eTRAKiT portal; unincorporated addresses, including a lot of mail that says Bellingham, go through Whatcom County Planning and Development Services. We settle which applies with the City’s mapping tool before we order equipment.

  5. Changeout day: set the pad, the air handler, and the lineset

    The outdoor unit goes on a level pad set above grade so it clears the standing water a Whatcom winter produces, with clearance for airflow and for service access on the valve side. Inside, the air handler or coil gets a properly sloped drain and a secondary pan where a leak would land on drywall, and the plenum transitions are built rather than taped together.

    Your part: Clear a path to the equipment and keep pets inside; doors are open for part of the day.

  6. Nitrogen pressure test, deep vacuum, weighed charge

    The refrigerant circuit is pressure-tested with dry nitrogen and held, then evacuated and verified on a micron gauge with a standing decay test before any refrigerant is released. Charge is weighed in to the manufacturer’s figure adjusted for lineset length, not guessed at by feel on the suction line.

  7. Commission, document, and set up the rebate paperwork

    We check superheat and subcool against the manufacturer’s target, measure temperature rise and static pressure across the air handler, and confirm defrost operation. The outdoor-sensor lockout for backup heat is set at or below 35°F with the compressor lockout disabled, which is what the PSE conversion rebate requires. You get the AHRI certificate, the model and serial record, and the commissioning numbers. PSE requires the installing contractor to be in its network for its heat pump rebates, so ask us to confirm status for your project before you count on that money.

    Your part: Bring household income information to the appointment if you want to be assessed for PSE’s Efficiency Boost amount, which the installer attests to on site.

Heat Pump Installation questions from Birch Bay

Does a ducted heat pump keep up at 19°F in Bellingham?
A properly sized cold-climate system does, and 19°F is the number to design against: it is Bellingham’s code heating design temperature under WAC 51-11C-80100, colder than Seattle’s 24°F. Capacity falls as it gets colder, so what matters is rated output at 19°F rather than at 47°F. Below the balance point, backup heat covers the gap, which is a design decision we make with you rather than a failure.
What size heat pump do I need for my house?
The only honest answer comes from a room-by-room load calculation, not from square footage. Two 1,800 square foot houses, one a 1950s box with original single-pane windows and one a mid-2000s build to code, can differ by more than a full ton. Oversizing a heat pump is worse than oversizing a furnace, because the compressor spends its life short-cycling and never reaches its efficient operating range.
Can I use my existing ductwork?
Often yes, and we check before quoting. Heat pumps deliver air at a lower temperature and higher volume, so a duct system that was marginal with a furnace can leave you with rooms three or four degrees apart. Crushed flex duct in the crawlspace, undersized returns and long uninsulated runs to a bonus room are what we find most in Whatcom County homes, and all three are fixable.
What happens in a power outage?
A heat pump stops, the same as a gas furnace with an electric blower stops. Nothing about a heat pump makes an outage worse than the electric furnace or baseboards it replaced. If you want genuine outage resilience, plan a generator interlock with a licensed electrical contractor as a separate project.
How long does a heat pump installation take?
One to two days for a changeout with usable ducts. Duct repair, a new pad location, or a lineset rerun adds a day. The electrical work and the mechanical inspection are separately scheduled, so the full calendar from deposit to signed-off permit is usually a couple of weeks.
Do I need a permit, and who pulls it?
Yes, a mechanical permit is required, and we pull it and meet the inspector. City of Bellingham Building Services handles addresses inside city limits through eTRAKiT, and Whatcom County Planning and Development Services handles unincorporated ones. The electrical permit is filed by the licensed electrical contractor who does that part of the job.
What does heat pump installation actually cost in Bellingham?
Published local ranges for a ducted system run $4,000 to $8,000 installed, and a Bellingham cost aggregator puts typical completed jobs at $5,301 to $6,973. The spread is driven by home size, duct condition, efficiency tier, and how much electrical work your panel needs. We quote the equipment, the mechanical work, and the electrical scope as separate lines so you can see which part of the number you are arguing with.
Which rebates apply if my house has baseboard heat now?
The PSE electric-resistance-to-heat-pump conversion rebate is the big one, at $1,500 or $2,400 with Efficiency Boost for income-qualified households, and it covers ducted as well as ductless. PSE also runs a midstream equipment discount of $300 to $600 by SEER2 and HSPF2 tier, passed through the distributor; whether that stacks with the $1,500 is unconfirmed and we will say so rather than promise it. PSE requires the installing contractor to be in its network, so ask us to confirm status before you count on the rebate.
Is there still a federal tax credit for a heat pump in 2026?
No. §25C and §25D terminated for property placed in service after December 31, 2025 under P.L. 119-21, and IRS FS-2025-05 confirms it. Any bid or advertisement still showing a $2,000 federal credit for a 2026 install is out of date, and there is no Washington sales-tax exemption on heat pumps to replace it either, despite how often that gets repeated.
Do I need to keep backup heat?
Usually yes, at least a modest amount. Below the balance point a heat pump needs help, and in a 19°F design climate that help is either electric strips in the air handler, an existing furnace, or a wood or propane appliance you already own. Keeping backup also lets us set the outdoor lockout PSE’s rebate requires, which stops the strips from running whenever the thermostat gets impatient.
Do SEER2 and HSPF2 ratings matter, or is that just marketing?
They matter for two practical reasons: rebate tiers and winter running cost. PSE’s midstream equipment discount is tiered by SEER2 and HSPF2, so the rating decides the dollar amount, and HSPF2 is the heating-season number that predicts your bill in a heating-dominated climate zone 4C like ours. Chasing the top tier stops paying once the price premium outruns the rebate plus the savings, and we will show you where that line falls.

Get a Birch Bay estimate

Tell us your address or ZIP — 98230 are all in our regular route.

Or call or text (360) 592-3824. Estimates carry the standard $89.99 trip charge, refunded as company credit when you accept the bid. We do not sell or share your details.

Before you decide

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Tell us what you have now and what you want it to do. We will tell you what fits, what it costs, and which rebates you actually qualify for — before anyone comes out.

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