When a mini-split beats extending the ducts
Adding a long branch to a trunk that is already working hard tends to starve the rest of the house, so you fix one room and break three. An addition over a crawlspace, a garage conversion, or a bonus room at the end of the system are all cases where its own small system costs less and works better than re-plumbing the ducts. We will tell you honestly which situation you have.
Placement decides how the room feels
A head wants height and a clear throw across the room — not tucked behind a door, not aimed at the head of a bed, not blowing into a wall a few feet away. Put it in the convenient spot instead of the right one and the room stratifies, the thermostat in the head reads the wrong air, and the system runs more than it should.
The parts of the job you will still see in five years
Ask where the line-set will run and where the condensate goes. A sagging bare copper line, a drain pointed at the siding or a hole that was never sealed are the marks of a rushed install, and they show up as stains, drips and drafts long after the price is forgotten. Those details are most of the difference between two quotes that look the same on paper.
How A Visit Goes
- 01
We Come And Diagnose
A real diagnosis, not a glance at the age plate. You get told what has failed and why, in words that make sense.
- 02
Repair Is Quoted First
If it can be fixed economically, that is the quote you get. A replacement number only comes out when repair genuinely does not make sense, and we will show you the arithmetic.
- 03
Sizing By Calculation
For a replacement, we measure the house — insulation, windows, ducts, orientation — instead of copying the old unit's label. Oversized systems short-cycle, run humid and wear out early.
- 04
Installed And Commissioned
Charged to spec, airflow measured, ducts sealed and every register balanced. An install that is not commissioned is only half done.
- 05
You See The Numbers
Temperature split, static pressure, and the settings we left it on — written down, so the next person has a baseline.
Ductless Mini-Splits: common questions
Can one system do the whole house?
A single outdoor unit can run several indoor heads, so a whole house is possible. It works best in open-plan space; with closed doors you need a head in most rooms, and at that point ducts are sometimes the better answer. We price both where both make sense.
Does it heat as well as it cools?
Yes — the same unit does both, and in this climate the heating side gets used more than people expect. In a cold snap the air feels cooler than furnace air and the unit runs longer, which is normal for how these work.
How noisy are they?
The indoor head is quiet enough that most people stop noticing it; the outdoor unit makes a low hum you hear standing next to it. Where it gets mounted matters more than the model, so tell us if it will sit under a bedroom window.
Heating & cooling throughout east Multnomah County
Most of our work is in east Multnomah County and the neighborhoods around it. Two weeks a year everybody calls at once — the first hard frost and the first real heat — so if you already know your system is on its last season, booking outside those weeks gets you a better job and a shorter wait.