Is My Home Ready for a Heat Pump?

How the assessment works

Each answer feeds a fixed set of rules, and the same answers always give the same result. There is no scoring model and nothing hidden: the result lists the reasons it reached. The Seattle Heat Pump Company plans ducted air-source heat pump projects in Seattle and King County, and these are the first questions worth answering before anyone quotes one.

There are three possible results. Good fit for a standard ducted heat pump means nothing in your answers points to extra work: ducts that heat evenly, a 200 amp service, room for the outdoor unit away from neighbors and no oil tank. Ducted heat pump, with checks first means the house has ducts, but one or more answers call for a specific check before equipment is chosen, and the result names each one. Needs a full assessment means the house has no ducts to use, so a central heat pump is not a simple swap.

The checks, and why each one matters

Duct and airflow test. A heat pump moves more air than a gas furnace to deliver the same heat, so ducts sized for a furnace can fall short, especially on the return side. Rooms that run cold can come from that, from leaky runs, or from a room that simply loses more heat. A static pressure test tells them apart. The existing ductwork page explains what the fixes look like.

Electrical panel check. Every heat pump needs a dedicated circuit and an outdoor disconnect. Whether the panel also needs an upgrade depends on its size, what else runs on it and whether electric backup heat is in the design. The panel requirements guide goes deeper.

Siting and noise. Seattle limits equipment noise at a residential property line to 55 dBA during the day and 45 dBA at night. A side-yard location needs a noise review: a predicted 47 dBA or less passes, otherwise the design needs a barrier, a compressor blanket or another spot. The noise ordinance guide has the details.

Oil tank plan. In Seattle, a tank out of service for a year or more must be decommissioned by a certified decommissioner under a fire department permit. If a leak is possible, the state's PLIA grant has to approve the project before work begins. See oil tank decommissioning.

No ducts: an honest answer

A house heated by baseboards, wall heaters or a boiler with radiators usually has no ducts. For most of those homes, ductless mini-splits are the practical route, with indoor heads in the rooms that need them. We do not install ductless systems, so a ductless specialist is the right call for that work. Adding ducts through an attic, crawlspace or closets can sometimes make a central system possible, but only a site visit can show whether there is a workable path. The ducted vs ductless guide lays out the tradeoffs.

What this tool will not do

It will not diagnose anything. A few answers cannot prove the cause of a cold room, the condition of a duct or the state of a buried tank, and the result says so rather than guessing. It never asks you to open a panel, remove a cover or test equipment; those jobs belong to licensed contractors. If you have no heat right now, the result says to mention that first when you call, and if you smell gas, leave the equipment alone and call your gas utility or 911.

What the on-site assessment adds

The visit measures what the questions cannot: a Manual J heat loss calculation, static pressure and airflow in the ducts, a load calculation on the panel, the outdoor location against setback and noise rules, and the permits the job will need. That is the first step of every ducted heat pump installation. Want typical prices for a house like yours first? The cost estimator shows published ranges and incentives.