Heat Pump Installation in Bremerton, WA
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Kitsap County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Bremerton asks for heat almost year round
Homes here need heat from September through June. That is ten months of the year the heat pump is running, with winter nights averaging 35°F from December through February. It rarely gets cold enough to strain a heat pump the way it would inland, but the season is long, and a heat pump installed here spends most of the year working, not resting.
Summers stay mild, averaging 74°F in the afternoon, so the cooling side of the job is light. A heat pump installed on or after January 1, 2023 has to meet federal minimums of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating, and in Bremerton it is the heating side that gets used.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 74°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration means the contractor's business is on file with the Department of Labor and Industries, and carries the bond and insurance the state requires. There is no trade exam behind it. Washington does not test heat pump installers or license them the way some states do a trade. What you're checking is that the business is on record, not that the state vouched for the work itself.
For this job, the protection comes from elsewhere. In most cities and counties, installing a heat pump needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the wiring, the refrigerant lines, and the unit itself, not the registration.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Is a heat pump better than a furnace?
- It depends on what you're comparing it to. A heat pump moves heat instead of burning fuel to make it, so it can also cool your home, which a furnace can't do. Homes here need heat from September through June, ten months a year, and don't need cooling at all, so most of the work either system would do is heating. A furnace paired with a separate air conditioner can do both jobs too, so the real choice is between running one system or two. A contractor can look at your ductwork and current setup and say which makes more sense for your house.
- What's the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner?
- An air conditioner only cools. A heat pump does that same job, moving heat out of your house, but it can also run in reverse and move heat into your house. Inside, the two look almost identical, and both use a compressor and refrigerant to move heat rather than burning fuel to create it. The difference is the reversing valve that lets a heat pump switch directions.
- Does a heat pump work in cold weather?
- Yes. A heat pump pulls heat from outside air even when it's cold, because air still holds heat well below freezing. Winter nights here average 35°F, which a heat pump can handle. As the outdoor temperature drops, the heat pump has to work harder to pull the same amount of heat, and some systems pair with a backup heat source for the coldest stretches. A contractor sizing a system for your house will factor in how cold it gets here and how the home is heated now.