Mini Split Installation in Spokane, WA
A new system here will heat from September through June and cool from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Spokane County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A Spokane County mini-split works nearly the whole year
Heat is the main job here. Homes need it September through June, ten months out of twelve, with winter nights averaging 24°F. A mini-split earns its keep on those cold nights, not just in the two months of summer when afternoons average 80°F.
Because it runs almost year round, the heating side matters as much as the cooling side. Any mini-split installed new has to meet 7.5 HSPF2 for heating and 14.3 SEER2 for cooling, the federal minimum for split-system heat pumps since January 2023. That is the baseline. Given how many months it spends heating this house, it is worth asking what a unit does above that baseline before it goes in.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the contractor's business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. There is no trade exam behind it, so it is a record of who is operating, not proof of what they know.
Because the state stops at that record, the checks on this job happen elsewhere. Installing a mini-split needs a permit from the local building office in most cities and counties, and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is where the installation actually gets checked, not the registration.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Is a mini split worth it?
- For most homes it comes down to what you're heating or cooling and how many rooms need it. A mini split can run efficiently down into cold temperatures, which matters here since winter nights average 24°F from December through February. It also cools well through the summer stretch, though that's a shorter season here, just July and August. A contractor can look at your rooms and your existing setup and tell you whether it makes sense for your house.
- How many rooms can a mini split cover?
- A single outdoor unit can run one indoor head or several, depending on the system. Multi-zone systems let several indoor heads share one outdoor unit, each one heating or cooling its own room independently. How many rooms yours can cover depends on the size of the outdoor unit and the layout of the house, so a contractor will need to look at both before sizing it.
- Can a mini split heat a whole house?
- It can, if there are enough indoor heads placed to cover the rooms and the system is sized for the house. Homes here need heat from September through June, ten months of the year, so the system has to be sized for that stretch of cold rather than just a mild day. Open floor plans are easier to cover with fewer heads. A house with many closed-off rooms usually needs a head in each one to heat evenly, and a contractor can walk the house to figure out what that takes.