In most Seattle homes, yes. Modern cold-climate heat pumps work down to 0–5°F, which covers nearly every winter night in the Puget Sound area. A lot of homeowners pull out the furnace and AC and replace both with one heat pump. If your house has poor insulation or a lot of heat loss, we might recommend keeping a backup heating element — we’ll check during the estimate.

A ducted heat pump replacement is typically 1-2 days, depending on whether we need to modify ductwork or run new line sets. A single-zone mini-split install is usually 4-6 hours. We give you a firm timeline during the in-home estimate before any work starts.

15–20 years with regular maintenance. The compressor in the outdoor unit is usually the first thing to go. Annual maintenance is the main thing that separates a 12-year system from a 20-year one.

A mini-split is a heat pump — just a ductless version. All mini-splits are heat pumps, but a heat pump can also be a ducted central system. Ducted heat pumps connect to existing ductwork and condition the whole home through a central air handler. Mini-splits use individual wall units per room and skip the ducts entirely. Which one fits depends on your home’s layout.

If the system is under 10 years old and it’s a single component, repair is usually worth it. If it’s over 12–15 years old, has needed multiple fixes in the past couple of years, or can’t hold temperature anymore, replacement is usually the better value. We’ll tell you which honestly — not whichever costs more.

Yes, most installations require a mechanical permit. Fuse Service pulls the permit as part of the job — you don’t have to deal with the permitting office.