Heat pumps and mini splits in Sehome

The houses in Sehome

Sehome wraps the hill between downtown and Western: turn-of-the-century two-storey houses on the lower streets, mid-century houses stepped up the grade above them, and a substantial number of both divided into two or three units. Basement conversions are everywhere — a finished lower level with its own entry is close to standard in this neighborhood. The older houses have plaster walls, minimal chase space and shallow basements; the hill houses have daylight basements and long stairs.

What is probably heating yours right now

The typical Sehome property has a ducted main floor on a gas or electric furnace and a basement unit heated by baseboard, sometimes with a separate meter and sometimes not. Upstairs bedrooms in the older houses are frequently on wall heaters. Where a whole house or a whole unit is on electric resistance, the PSE $1,500 conversion rebate applies, and a ductless system is usually the only sensible way to serve rooms the ducts never reached.

What makes a Sehome install different

Grade is the constraint. Sehome lots fall sharply, and getting a condenser and a pad to the right side of the house can mean hand-carrying equipment down a stairway or setting the unit at street level with a long, properly engineered lineset. Multi-unit properties need the meter question answered before we quote, because the rebate follows the account holder and the electrical work follows the panel. In the older houses, plaster-and-lath walls and 1920s wiring mean penetrations get planned and any circuit work goes to a licensed electrical contractor.

Sizing for 19°F

Every Bellingham address shares the same code design temperature — 19°F at station Bellingham 2 N, colder than Sea-Tac's 24°F. What differs street to street is the envelope. A 1910s one-and-a-half storey with knee walls and original single glazing carries a very different load from a mid-2000s two-storey built to a modern code, even at identical square footage. That is why we run the load rather than multiplying square feet by a constant.

We know the streets

If you are near Sehome Hill Arboretum, Sehome High School, Bill McDonald Parkway, we have worked nearby. Ask and we will tell you honestly what we have run into on that side of town.